Mega Man X - The Returnees
by Kiramos
Summary: After the return from a space mission, an all female military reploid squad decides to go after the three legendary S Rank Maverick-Hunters X, Zero and Axl.
1. Prolog and Chapter 1

**Mega Man X  
****The Returness**

**Prolog  
**My Name is Mega Man X. I feel a bit uncomfortable, but this story has to be told. The story of the first and only time, that we where utterly beaten.

**AD 21XX - After the Events of Mega Man X 3  
**After Dr. Cain found a hidden programming routine, that could change the emotional balance, personality and behavior of a Reploid into more male or female, the highest court on earth decides to give every Reploid the right to choose a gender and sex or stay neutral.

**AD 21XX - After the Events of Mega Man X 8  
**The Jakob Project (Human Moon Migration) continues under the oversight of NASA and a few new agencies with different goals are established. One of them is the military Reploid Outer Space Agency of Science, Research, Exploration & Pre-Colonization. In short: ROSA.

An all female military Reploid-Squad under the Leadership of General Moon Mare, takes a new advanced Spaceship, to travel to a distant, possible habitable Planet for Humans, with an experimental engine called Space-Sphere-Portal.

They return six months behind schedule, while the Maverick Wars are still ongoing. After a 3 week quarantine, they were released back into the society and leaved the military a few days after that. But they all got some medals of honor and merit in an unofficial ceremony before leaving for good.

All of the squad members had their respective animal heads and tails as main design elements. If they were avian, they also had wings added to their back. Most of them had basic body designs for the rest of their body parts. The only exception were Space Raven's claws, Diamond Pen's armor plates were all transparent and Silver Doe wasn't even painted and therefore, still had a metallic look. Lightning Otter even looked nothing like a basic reploid model and was designed to look like a giant Otter.

**1\. Chapter: The devious team  
**„Look at them! They're still fighting against those pesky Mavericks!" Virion Skunk stood in front of a 3D hologram. She was surrounded by her comrades and their leader. Moon Mare. The Map showed a fight between the Maverick-Hunters and a few no-name Mavericks. „But effortless! They're just toying with them at this point!", said Diamond Pen. Space Raven walked around the Holotable and pointed her index finger on the hologram of X. „We will not make the same mistakes as Sigma, Epsilon and all the others, right girls? Because, what are we?!" „Female Reploids!" „Right! And we already planned ahead! Way ahead! They'll never see us coming!", said Samara Squirrel and laughed so hard afterwards, that it sounded almost maniacally. Moon Mare just ignored her and continued, where Samara Squirrel had left off. „We're doing this as follows! There'll be five Teams with a membership between two and four! I know we're just 8 but listen! A few of us will be in more than just one Team! So the formula is still correct! One Team will build our Fortress of Female Fatality! Titanium Doe, you will build the fortress walls and anything metal! Lightning Otter, you're responsible for the electricity and Virion Skunk for the programming of the fortress' software! Diamond Pen, you will decorate everything and use your contacts in germany to get us some materials! That goes for the former mentioned three as well! Get your resources and then you'll have to build the fortress! Do it perfect! I'll accept nothing less!" Moon Mare pointed at her subordinates and continued her explanation. „Space Raven and myself, will bring the Space-Sphere-Portal back from the Spaceship we used! The engine is essential for our plan! And we need a Team that has to observe the Maverick-Hunters, X, Zero and Axl! Virion Skunk, Rose Vixen and Samara Squirrel! Be female, be sexy, be seductive, be devious! Find their male weak spots, seduce them and bring me all the data, that you can secretly get from the Maverick-Hunters, without being caught! Afterwards, Diamond Pen and Virion Skunk will observe the collected data and find some use for them! The Teams are set! We can do this, girls!"


	2. Chapter 2

**2\. Chapter: The manipulation  
**Diamond Pen still had a few contacts to a metal facility in the area of the world, that was formerly known as germany. She was constructed in that area as well, so no one suspected a thing, when she showed up a for quick surprise visit in the big industry complex. Multiple company's worked here but they all had one goal. Making Zenny. The facility Diamond Pen was interested in, was lead by an old german company named Tyarug. The company was renamed a few times and no one knew the original name anymore. Diamond Pen was a beauty. Even some human males could fall for her. One of these humans was the CEO of Tyarug - Bernhardt Schneider. Diamond Pen strutted trough the big production hall of the main facility area and 90 % of the male Reploids turned their heads in her direction. She stopped walking and looked around. Every pair of eyes on her filled her with joy. „I still have it! Even after all these months in space!" [Human Target, Bernhardt Schneider within 50 meters. Estimated arrival in 2 minutes 3 seconds.] Her inner System Software, that was separate from her AI, had given her that information directly on her visual feed in her left eye. „Well then! Time to get these metallic resources in our none existing pockets!" Schneider sat in his office, directly under the roof. There was a nearby staircase that led directly from the ground up to the office. Climbing stairs was nothing for a Reploid. She didn't even knocked and just opened the door. Bernhardt was alone. Diamon Pen didn't need to switch to german, since english was the only language everyone used nowadays. „Hi, Berny!" „Dia! Nice to see you! You look beautiful as always!" „Schmeichler(?)!" Bernhardt jumped out of his chair and hugged her. She felt a little bit of discomfort and deactivated her emotion program. She could now focus on her goal, without getting into the emotional byproduct of her plan. „Berny, i bet you've collected a large amount of Überstunden!(?)" She winked at him and smiled. Of course she just acted in that kind of way. Her emotion program was still deactivated. She walked past him and sat down in his chair. „I think i don't remember what your bedroom looks like! Want to refresh my memories?"

It took them another few days to get all the other materials they needed. For that time being, they stored them in a closed facility in germany. Thanks to Bernhardt, no one would disturb them there. Now they could start to work on that fortress. Moon Mare and Space Raven went to the military space agency and got the main engine of their space ship ,while the fortress was under construction.

One week later and the fortress' construction was finished. Now the really hard part began. Getting their hands on X, Zero and Axl.


	3. Chapter 3

**3\. Chapter: The seduction  
**Observation and collecting data were just two of the things, they had on their to-do-list. And now was the time to do that. Three of them had chosen a target. Rose Vixen went after Zero, while Samara Squirrel wanted to get er mechanic paws on Axl. Virion Skunk had chosen X as her target. They observed them for 3 whole days but all they could found out was, that the three where super boring. If they had a thing for female Reploids they kept it secret. Moon Mare decided to stick to the plan anyway but slow and steady. One Hunter at a time. Rose Vixen was chosen as the first one to go and get her target. She followed the three Maverick-Hunters into a night club in one rainy night.

Rose Vixen entered the club and found the three on the dance floor. They danced to some wierd Techno-Songs. Rose Vixen joined the dance floor and move herself closer and closer to X and his friends. Since her programming didn't allowed her to be clumsy, she just talked right into their competitive mindset. „Hey boys! I bet i could wipe the floor with your lame dance moves!" „Oh, it is so on, babe!", said Zero and showed her, what he was made of.

In the meanwhile. Moon Mare and Space Raven held a quick, short council of war. „We are so close in succeeding! If our girls fail, then we will execute Plan B! Is everything ready, Space Raven?" „Yes! As soon as we have the data from X, Zero and Axl, we will look into them for useful information! The other parts of our plan are proceeding as well and entering their final phases!" „Perfect! That's what i wanted to her!"

After the dance battle was over, the four sat down and talked a bit. „What's your name, Sweetheart?" Zero was interested in her, the other two not so much. But first things first. „Sweetheart sounds lovely, you can keep calling me that all night long!"

X and Axl left after a short while. Rose Vixen was now alone with her target. She was really close and leaned against his shoulder. „Want to escort me back home?" „Sure!"

They left the club and she brought Zero to her private home. She wasn't there since their journey into space.

The small apartment was enough for her and it served another purpose, besides getting data from Zero. I would give him security an comfort. She had placed all her hard earned medals into a vitrine and there were multiple pictures of her at the military. Zero picked one picture up. „You were part of the space program from ROSA?" „Me and seven others! Yes! And we served already few years in the army when everyone of us girls signed in!" „You were an all female squad?" „Yup!"

Zero walked around her home and looked into every corner and at every picture. He finally sat down on her small couch in the living room. Rose Vixen already sat there and laid her arm around him. „And?" „Looks good! You really have a thing for flowers! Especially Roses!" She knew everything was fine. There were no Mavericks on any of her old pictures and ROSA never had any cases of Reploids turning Maverick. „Want to fight me?" Rose Vixen asked that while resting her chin on the fingers of her fist. „Are you sure about that? Aren't female Reploids more romantic or, i don't know, have more feminine interests?" „Well if you ask like that, do you want to fuck my ai chip into corruption?" „I don't know you and doing it so quick seems a bit to quick! Even for us Reploids!" „There is no downside here, just pure enjoyment! We have a little bit of fun and part afterwards, never seeing each other again! Deal?" She reached out to him with her open hand and he agreed by shaking her hand. „Deal!" Rose Vixen smiled. It was the smile of a spider looking at a trapped fly in her net.

Rose Vixen returned to the Fortress after Zero had left for over two hours. „And?", asked Samara Squirrel, while leaning against a metal wall. „I got what i wanted!" „All of his data?" „No, that turned out to be to risky but i got something else from him!" „Something of value?" „Yes! A private training session with Zero!" „Oh, this makes up for not getting everything! At least we got that bit of information out of him!" „I think we need more than one attempt to get to the point where they fully trust us!" Moon Mare entered the hallway by walking around a corner. „I listened to your conversation with Zero, Rose Vixen! What about the deal you agreed to?" „Oh, i'll not be the one who breaks the deal! He will! I made sure of that!" She placed her hand on her chest and stuck her nose high up in the air. „If you say so!", said Moon Mare. „We have time,", Samara Squirrel looked to Rose Vixen and then to Moon Mare, „right General?" „Correct! This is one of the many advantages in our agenda! We have all the time we need! Because our plan is not bound to a schedule! There is no need to rush! It's not like that our targets would fly away into space or something like that!" Moon Mare continued her walk and leaved the two alone. But she stopped before turning around the next corner and asked in normal volume. „You placed the fake Photos in your home, right?" „Yes, General!" „Good! Since only me and Space Raven are officially known members, they will not identify you two nor Virion Skunk as members of ROSA. And all our profiles are classified anyway so they can't access them so easily! Samara Squirrel, you can start with your quest on winning Axl's trust and get all accessible information about his copy ability!"

A day later and Samara Squirrel moved into a free apartment in the house, in which Axl had his too. And even on the opposite side to Axl's apartment. Axl met her a few times over the next few days and open as he was, she ended up in his arms pretty fast. On that night, she wanted to get from him what she wanted. They had a romantic dinner in a restaurant and as soon as that was over, they went back into his apartment. Samara laid herself onto Axl's Bed and waited for him to join her. „Axl?! Are you coming?" „In a minute, honey! I'm getting a call from X right now!" „I don't care about that! Take me as the manliest Reploidform your data bank has to offer! Now!" „Sorry, X! Is it important? I don't know what Zero is up to! He just asked me, if he should see her again! Even if they had a One-Night-Stand-kinda Deal!" „Axl!" „Sorry, X! Duty calls! Manly duty! We talk later! Bye!" Axl walked into his bedroom. „Finally! Come into my arms, honey!"

When Samara Squirrel returned to the fortress she gave a data stick to Virion Skunk. „How much could you get?" She leaned forward and whispered. „Everything i wanted!" She then made a sad expression. „But he said i'm to lively and loony for his taste!" Virion Skunk hugged her, to comfort her. „Sometimes it just wasn't meant to be, Sam!"

The last one their list was X. Virion Skunk waited until Rose Vixen got a private mail from Zero. They were in Rose Vixen's fortress room. She had placed many real indoor flowers inside big chunks of earth and watered them while they talked. „And, Rose? Does he want to see you again?" „Yup!" „When?" „Tonight, Viri!" „Tell him, you'll bring a girlfriend with him!" „Should i ask him to bring X with him to accompany you?" „No! Just write that you'll bring your girlfriend with you! And the rest should develop as i think it will!"

The movie in the cinema had just begun, when Virion Skunk leaned her head against X's shoulder. Her prediction, that Zero would want to get X as a companion for Virion's so called girlfriend was a direct hit. Now her Special Ability came in handy. She didn't had to jump into the bed with him. She just caressed his neck and released a few of her nanobots onto the surface area she had just touched. Every single one of them contained a 4-phase program that would breach his firewall, collect data, send these data directly into her memory bank and deactivate himself afterwards. Only one of the many millions of them needed to succeed in all four tasks. The nanobots could communicate with each other, as soon as one of them began to collect data, that task was deactivated for the others, but if the nanobot failed, the others collected the remaining data. After that task was complete and the data successfully sent into Virion Skunks memory bank, all nanobots would leave his body and destroy themselves by imploding after a five minute countdown. X couldn't help himself. Virion Skunk looked familiar but he couldn't find anything in his memory banks about her. He really should've sorted his memories better.

Virion Skunk could leave after the movie, because of her nanobots doing all the work and X did the same. She also could've used the nanobots on Zero but Rose Vixen wanted to do that on her own. A request which Virion Skunk accepted out of respect for Rose Vixen. Zero and Rose Vixen stood in front of the cinema. „Last time we went to my apartment! Do we want to go to your place, Zero?" „I don't think you would like it there! Let's go to your place and we will see what the rest of the night has in store for us!" „Alright! Sounds fine to me! Let's go!"


	4. Chapter 4

**4\. Chapter: The finishing touches  
**A few hours later and the next part of their plan was complete. They had everything they wanted. Now it was up to Diamond Pen and Virion Skunk to get the most use out of all the collected data. Both stood in front of two giant monitors, who were placed back to back and every time one of them said something, that female Maverick peaked over the boarders of her monitor and directly to her comrade. Both tipped while talking and went back and forth with their head movements. „Look at that, Dia! None of the data inherit the AI code of Axl and Vixen couldn't even collect more data! She said, the timing was never right and maybe never will!" „So, we just got nothing or useless junk from these two?" „I wouldn't be so quick with a final judgment! Axl's copy ability is accessible!" „Yes, but Zero's data are none-existent!" „Although X is just a free win on every aspect! Whatever Dr. Light did back then, he just password protected his data files! What a joke! The longest possible password could only be 64 digits long back in his days! We will just brute force trough all possible combinations on all data files! Do you want to take the first half of all possible combinations and i take the other?" „Sure thing! Let's crack the code!" Moon Mare's voice came out of the speakers, which were placed in every single room. „We will combine the processing power from all of us for the brute force attack!" „Yes, General!"

It took the entire team one entire month to crack the code. But Diamond Pen and Virion Skunk could do absolutely anything with the data of X and Axl's copy ability. „Just think about the possibilities, Viri!" „We could even rebuild X, reprogram every aspect to our liking and even give him Axl's copy ability!" „That sounds great and my human lovers can order every part we would need for his creation!" „Woha, Dia, what?! You have multiple human lovers?" „Oh, the things they'll do to get their kinky fantasies fulfilled! You have no idea!" „Dia, that isn't answering my question but thanks to my artificial memory i can just delete your two last sentences! Because they're gross and the cinema in my head just showed the most disturbing movie in my entire life!" „Do as you please but listen!" „And deleted!" „Good for you! I'm already sending out mails!" „Is your short time RAM defect? I think i made a pretty clear point on what i think about your adventures!" „I know but i like talking about it, Viri!" „Lets just change the topic! The data transfer was completed while you talked!" Diamond Pen walked towards the exit of Virion's room in the fortress. „I'm away for a few days!" „No details, please! Just make sure that we get every part we need to rebuild X with a female design!" „But of course!" Diamond Pen took another step, so that the door swung open and she walked into the corridor. She waved her hand to Virion as the door closed itself. Virion Skunk shook her head in disbelief. „If i ever find out who programmed her character traits, i'll turn Maverick and rip his freaking heart out of his chest! I swear!"

Moon Mare visited Space Raven, Titanium Doe and Lightning Otter in one of the four missile silos, that were part of the fortress' corners. Lightning Otter laid a thick power cable, Titanium Doe worked on the last welds and Space Raven wrote the program for the missile. „How many more can we build in one week if i ask Diamond Pen for even more resources?" „Three more?", said Titanium Doe while looking to the top of the missile. „I want six in total! That will totally blow them away!" „Yes, General!"

After Diamond Pen succeeded and all parts were in her room, she, Virion Skunk, Rose Vixen, Samara Squirrel and Moon Mare started working on the creation of a new female Reploid. Because of that division, the other four could still work on the missiles.

„Make her beautiful!", demanded Diamond Pen to Moon Mare, who formed the outer plates with her bare hands. „We have to stay true to X' original design! But since she is female i'll see what i can do to not only make her feminine but beautiful!" „We should alter her character traits a bit! Just a tiny bit!", suggested Virion Skunk while uploading the full data set into the metal framed Reploid head. „What about the copy ability?", asked Samara Squirrel and Moon Mare answered. „I had to scrap that idea! It didn't felt right to give XX one of Axl's abilities!" „XX? Were you inspired by the female pair of chromosomes, General?" „Can we spray her pink-gold instead of the blue colors?", asked Diamond Pen again. „Sure! Why not!", said Moon Mare. „And she needs blue eyes, blonde long hair with a pink ribbon in it, that is an energy barrier shield in disguise!", it bubbled out of Samara Squirrel. She and Diamond Pen just ran wild with their ideas. „Do we want to give her two arm cannons?" Everyone looked at Diamond Pen in pure disbelief. „What? I have more than one interest! I haven't joined the military just to look as beautiful as i can an am! Even i need a good fight from time to time!" Virion found some leftovers in Mega Man X' Code, her first reaction was to delete that junk but her gut feeling told her to take a deeper look. After she found more code leftovers and seemingly useless data files, she gathered it all on another partition and took her time to obverse it closer. Back then she had it ignored but now it almost felt like it would scream at her. She went silent and even blocked incoming sound waves, to concentrate better. She almost soft rebooted herself out of sheer shock, when Samara Squirrel tapped on her shoulder and jumped into her field of view. If Virion had seen Samara's moves from before, she could have calculated that she would jump in front of her. Virion Skunk lifted the block on incoming sound waves. „I could punch you to scrap metal for doing this! Maybe later but right now, you all need to see this! I'll link the hard drive to the monitors in the room!" She did this from within herself, since she was connected to the hard drive and that to the body of Mega Woman XX. Dr. Light's very old face appeared on all screens.

„My name is Dr. Thomas Light! And i'll do whatever i still can, to finish the first out of two planed new robots with their own free will and a newly invented emotion chip! I don't have the time left, to work on both of them at the same time! In fact, i'm not even sure if i can finish X in time, before i leave all my work, which i dedicated all my heart, life, time and health into, behind! But thanks to Mega Man, Roll, Rush and Beat, i'm ahead of the schedule! So, we all should manage to do this! All thanks to them! I don't want the blue prints of my final creation to fall into the wrong hands! A skilled programmer can repair, rearrange, rename and combine all data files, in which i will separate everything! Blue prints, character traits, ai code, emotion chip programming, design, weaponry, just everything! If you see this message, then you're at least skilled enough to put everything back together! But be honest to yourself! Seek help if you can't finish my final work on your own! Please, Mega Man X can't be left alone! At least give him a family! His younger brother had one and so should he! Please! Finish her!" Diamond Pen wagged her arms into the air. „Woha, woha! Wait a sec! Did he just said... "her"?!" The smile that she put on afterwards was full of happiness but it also looked like that of a mad woman at the same time.

Because of that message it took them two days instead of one, to finish every aspect of their plan. Dr. Light's final creation was also part of the team now. All of them stood in front of General Moon Mare. She sat on a chair in the command center of the fortress. Big monitors showed data over data on screen. „Ladies, we've final done it! Now all that's left are the main guests of the event! Let's make sure that they'll get our invitation and now on your positions! It's time for the big main event! Let's bring the Maverick-Hunters to the fortress of female fatality! Lieutenant General Space Raven, are the first two missiles ready?" „Yes, General!" „Lieutenant Colonel Samara Squirrel, start the missiles number one and two!" Samara Squirrel saluted, ran to one of the free chairs, sat down and pushed a few buttons. „The coordinates are still correct, i'll start both missiles! Now!" One final button press and one of the monitors showed, how the missiles started from underwater and soon rose above the sea level. Moon Mare looked pleased and smirked towards the screens. „Maverick-Hunters! Come and stop us! We're waiting!"


	5. Chapter 5

**5\. Chapter: The beginning of the end  
**While they waited for the three Maverick-Hunters arrival, they held an energy-tank-tea party in Lightning Otters room. Their newest member sat between Diamond Pen and Rose Vixen. „Thanks for creating me!" „You're welcome, sweetheart!", said Diamond Pen and caressed the cheek of Dr. Light's true last child.

X, Zero and Axl stood in front of one of the missiles. It had landed into an old facility of Sigma. Since the building was long abandoned, there were no casualties. „I'm just glad that thing didn't blew up at the same time!", said Axl. „What harm could it have done? There's nothing here! Not a single soul!", said X. „Maybe whoever did this, had a transposed digit or placed the comma wrong!", thought Zero and walked towards the building. „Colonel Redips said, they have located a hidden fortress that's completely underwater! He want's us to investigate the fortress and if we find Mavericks there, that we destroy them!", said X while reading his incoming messages from the HQ. „Business as usual, i guess! Well! Let's go!", said Zero and ran to their bikes.

They quickly went to the fortress. On the front door they had found a password door lock. X got a direct message from HQ. „HQ has a first estimate on the casualties and repai costs of both missile launches!" „There was a second launch?", yelled X surprised. „Yes! Must've happened at the same time! But both numbers are at zero!" Axl investigated Zero's body, while he tried to bypass the look. He stopped and locked very puzzled at Axl. „What exacthly are you doing?" „Just searching for those numbers on your body!" „X facepalmed! I meant the actual number zero! Not our Zero you joker!" „And we're in!" Zero had done it. The door opened and they could enter the fortress.

The first room was a decompression chamber. After that room they stood in a large lobby. There were chairs, flowers and a big digital picture of the ROSAs first all female military squad, led by General Moon Mare. Everyone was on it. Moon Mare, Space Raven, Virion Skunk, Diamond Pen, Lightning Otter, Rose Vixen, Titanium Doe and Samara Squirrel. Of course the picture only showed them as completely back silhouettes, to not ruin the surprise effect. There was an info point with an old computer system of the early 21st century. „Lets see what we have here!", said X and used the touch screen of the info point terminal. „Interesting! The layout is pretty simple! There are 8 blacked rooms with small pictures of animals in their centers. Four rooms at the west and four at the east side of the fortress! There are always two rooms on one side of the corridors in each case! And the two rooms and the outer part of the fortress lead into one of the four missile silos at the corners of the fortress! And in the middle is a blacked room with a pink question mark on a golden dot! What the heck?!" Zero turned his head to X and the blue bomber just shrugged, while Axl turned is head towards a door, that now swung open and a very excited Samara Squirrel entered. „Oh! Hi, boys! Nice to see you again!" Axl's jaw dropped and he pointed at her. „Samara! But, you, how, what?!" She just smiled at him. „You rejected me but i'm not mad at you! I know that i'm a difficult girl!", she looked to the ground, placed her hands behind her back and drew circles with her left feet, „You'll need nerves made out of titanium, if you want to be my boyfriend!" „Samara!", Axl walked slowy towards her, „Please, did you... because i... rejected you... turned... did you turned Maverick because i rejected you?" Samara looked at him for a few seconds and then burst into laughter. „Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Seriously? You three like throwing that word around a lot at Reploids who don't share your point of few!" „That's not true but tell me, not a Maverick at all, why you eight launched two missiles at...", began X but Samara interrupted him and finished the sentence, „two unpopulated places which are scheduled for demolition in two weeks anyway?" ,she now exaggerated, „How maverick of us! How could we?! We're so evil!", she feel on her knees, „You should end me right here and now, please end my suffering!" She laughed even harder than before and stood up. „This is to good! I'm cracking up already and were not even finished with you!" She pointed at all three of them and and smirked. A male computer voice came out of the speakers in the fortress. „Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 60 minutes! Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 60 minutes!" „After the liftoff, the world as we know it, will never be the same again! See ya!" Before they could do anything Samara vanished in a teleport beam. „What the... a teleporter?", Zero said that and all three looked around. „We need to fight them! Whatever they're up to! We have to stop them!", said X and activated his X-Buster cannon. „Finishing eight girls in one hour? Piece of cake!" X and Zero looked totally astonished in Axl's direction. X pointed at him. „Did you just really said that?!" „That sounded much better in my head than it turned out to be! Sorry, guys!"

The three entered the right wing of the fortress. „Four doors! One the left door is a skunk and on the other a squirrel!", said X while Zero ran forward to look at the other two doors. „Here its an otter to the left and a Swan to the right!" „A Skunk! Could it be Rose's girlfriend?", Axl had asked that and X answered. „There was a fox symbol on one of the rooms in the left wing!" „Did they wanted to observe us or to steal something from us?", asked Zero and came back while he thought about the good times he had with Rose Vixen. If would break his heart when she turned out to be here and a maverick. „Check for data breaches in your systems, guys!", Zero suggested this and everyone did it. „Ah, fuck! My copy ability was... copied!" „There are no security breaches in my system! Thank the creator! X, how about you?" „Did you just thanked Dr. Albert Wily? Anyway! They took everything! Every single data file, every line of code! Even the junk data i had since my activation and still can't delete!" „That's not good!", said Axl. Samaras door opened. She came out of her room and hled a bazooka in her arms, she looked a bit puzzled at that weapon. „Can one of you guys help me with this?" „Are you for real, girl?" „You're asking us for help after you and your girlfriends betrayed us like this?" „We didn't!" She turned around and went back into her room. Axl ran after her. „I'll need to talk to Rose! You go and see that skunk, X!" „Roger, Zero!"

Axl had entered her room and was blown away. The whole room was an 8 times 8 big cubic hall. „Woha! Seriously, Samara?" „Yup! All my stuff! I'm a collector!" For a moment Axl had forgotten, that he just wanted to shoot her in her ever smiling face. The room was full with vitrines and in every single one of them, was either a collection of a certain type of very old historic weaponry or a full vehicle. She even had old human uniforms. The whole collection reached from 500 b.c. up to 2000 a.c. Nothing in this room could even make a tiny scratch in their armor plates. That stuff was just part of the brutal history of humankind and it seemed that Samara had found a liking in it. A big liking. She even had whole tanks and jets in here on display. „What the heck, girl?" „Do you like my collection! Please, look around! I own every single piece in here! Everything in here was bought legally and belongs to me!" „I'll check that after i've blown a hole in your body! But first!", he aimed his pistol at her, „Tell me your plan!" „Tonight i want to clean up the RSK MiG-35! She is a dirty one and needs cleaning!" „Don't play dumb on me! Tell me your plan! Maverick!" She slapped her hands against her cheeks. „Oh! You used the M-Word on me! How shocking!" Axl looked at her sternly. „Samara!" „Okay, okay!", Samara placed her hands on her chest plate pieces. „Just shoot me already! You go on my nerves!" He aimed and pushed the trigger.

X stood in Virions geek hall. So many new and old computers and cables, adapters and other stuff. Virion sat in front of one of the bigger screens in here and had herself linked to the computer, that stood under the desk, on which her right elbow rested. Her chin rested on her fist. „Hi, X!" She said that, without turning around. She had seen his reflection in the screen. „Turn away from that computer!" He raised is X-Buster!" „Be careful! That place has some delicate and very old equipment! If you destroy my stuff, you'll have to pay for it! In Zenny of course! Not what you're obviously thinking right now!" „What is your plan?" „Debugging my self written code for my video game! Why?" „Not that plan! Your real plan! The missiles! What is their purpose?" She turned her head, smiled and said. „To ensure that we will win against you!" „The first two missiles were failures, right?" „Now! They landed exactly were they should've!" „I've enough of you! I'll destroy you!" X charged his X-Buster.

Zero and Vixen had a nicer conversation in her private garden. She worked on a few of her flowers. „Tell me! That between us, was that real?" „Yes!" „Then, why are you doing this?" He grabbed her turned her face towards his own and looked deep into her eyes. „Tell me the truth! Have you turned maverick?" „Are you assuming that because of the missiles?" The male computer voice talked again. „Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 50 minutes! Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 50 minutes!" „It's not maverick to launch a few missiles, Zero!" She freed herself from his grasp and returned to her plants. She started humming. „I don't want to shoot you!" „Likewise!" Zero activated his saber, while Rose was focused on watering a larger plant.


	6. Chapter 6

**6\. Chapter: The hobbies  
**Samara was quick. Axl stood only a few meters away from her and she dodged almost like it was nothing. She turned angry, her cheeks got bigger and before he knew it, she started spitting nut-formed grenades at him. He could dodge them pretty easily. She didn't tried to kill him, that would looked totally different. He knew, she didn't tried very hard. She acted far below her true power level. After so many battles, Axl could assess the true power of an opponent pretty good by now. And Samara didn't even meant it seriously. She was just pretending. But why?

X was surprised. „A barrier?" Virion Skunk looked around in horror. The blast had obliterated a good chunk of her stuff. „Did you... my babies! My children! You... you monster!" Seeing her beloved stuff destroyed pushed her over the edge. She deactivated the barrier with a button press and jumped towards X. He could easily dodge and fire at her but Virion wasn't an easy target. Even so close to him he couldn't hit her and she tried to spray at him with her tail. She released a dose of violet nanobots into the air. Every single one of them with a self programed virus. One misstep and X was finished.

Rose and Zero just looked at other. His Saber was still active but Rose's watering can had felt to the ground. If she had the ability to cry. She would've done it now. „Why? I thought you liked me?" „I do but..." „What is more important for you, Zero? Labeling someone as maverick without knowing his, her or it intentions? Or would you finally start to talk with me about your true feelings?"

Samara had just stopped and so had Axl. „I'm done with you!", she screamed at him and pointed at the door, „Leave, before i show you why the boys called me nutcracker on the academy!"

X went trough the door and it was locked immediately from inside. „That was to close! I think i should go to another room and see if i can get some answers!" He walked to Lightning Otters room and entered. The girl swam in a pool of open electric cables and water. „And this is comfy?" „More comfy then fleeing from Virion's virus perfume!" So, they could watch each other. X found that piece information very interesting. The problem was, that he couldn't shoot her, while she was sounded by the electrified water. A splash in his direction and he was done for. He wasn't as isolated as her. „Want to give it a try?" „Tell me your plan?" „Nope! Did you know that humans survived lightning strikes in the past?" „And?" „Nothing and! It was just a little trivia i wanted to share!" She dove and didn't showed up for a while. „Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 40 minutes! Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 40 minutes!" He left the room and took the opposite door.

Rose and Zero sat down between her flowers and she leaned at his shoulder. „All i can tell you is, that none of us is a maverick! But it can't say anything else!" „And the missiles?" She shook her head. „Who is threatening you?" „No one!" He grabbed her again and shook her a bit. „Rose, please! I can help you!" She stood up and became a bit angry. „I told you that no one is treating us!" „Is it something that happened while you and the others where in space? Did something out there turned you all maverick and you're all just to afraid to seek help?" Now she was furious. „Seriously, Zero?! Help?! From whom?! As soon as you're labeled maverick, you're having an invisible target at your body and no one help's you! The only help you get is a shoot in the face from you and your friends! How is the real maverick? The ones that shoot everyone into junk before offering any kind of real help or the mavericks that are peaceful and just have different ideas or visions, that don't align with societies norms? I don't speak about mavericks like Sigma! These are clear maverick cases! But what about the Reploids who just think different! Maybe their ideas sound a bit extreme but why aren't we talking or listening to them? We're just shooting at them every single time! Zero, this has to stop! Please!", she shook her head and spoke normal again, „Sometimes i wonder who the real mavericks are! The Reploids labeled as mavericks or the hunters, with their „Shoot first! Ask questions later!"-mentality?!", when he didn't answered immediately, she yelled at him, „Huh?! Hello! I asked you a freaking question, Zero! Answer me!" „I..." „What, i?"

Axl had left Samara's room and saw that X entered one of the rear rooms. He decided to check the other rooms in the left wing and after a short run he entered Titanium Doe's room. She was a sporty one by the looks of it. Her training equipment was scattered around the floor. The Reploid stood in the center of the room and had her whole paneling on the ground. Every part of her Reploid innards were visible. „Oh, by the maker! You're naked!" He held his arms in front of his eyes and closed them. Titanium Doe picked an isolation mat up from the ground and placed it around her upper body and her waist. „Better, Axl?" „Thanks!" „What can i do for you? I could inspect and repair you if necessary!" „No female Reploid that isn't my girlfriend or wife is touching my parts!" „Bummer!" „And i don't trust you! You all play nice and sweet but that can't hide what you all really are!" „Women?" „Mavericks!" Titanium Doe rolled her eyes and let the insulation mat slide to the ground. „Woha!" Axl closed his eyes and raised his arms in front of his face. Titanium Doe rushed forward, turned 180 degrees, placed her hands on the ground and lifted her hooves into the air, made a candle, angled her legs and kicked Axl out of her room and locked the door. Axl was perplex but didn't tried to break in. He proceeded to the next room.

X had reached Diamond Pen's room. It was a big bedroom with a waterbed and a laptop in it. A cupboard as big as cupboard for a female Reploid would need to be and a big mirror wall. Diamond Pen laid prone on the bed and tipped on her big laptop. A human would've had problems even lifting that thing over a longer period of time. It weighed 66 pounds. Diamond Pen didn't even looked at X as he entered the room. „Is every single one of you women just playing the „I am innocent!"-card?" „But we are!", she looked at X while saying that and then looked at her laptop, „Sorry gals and guys! I've a private conversation here! See you all, very soon! Bye! I love you all infinitely!" She gave her viewers a hand kiss and closed the laptop. „You should've said farewell to your fans!" X charged his X-Buster again and fired. Diamond Pen could easily dodge, by just raising her upper body from the bed. Immediately afterwards, she grabbed X by his helmet, threw him out of her room and locked the door as well.

Axl entered Space Ravens room and the door locked behind him, as she closed. „Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 30 minutes! Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 30 minutes!" Space Raven watched a human opera on a big screen and laid on her couch. „Okay, look! Maybe we're wrong with the whole „You are all Mavericks!-Thing but if you're doing a secret mission thing here, which got approved by the military and you can't talk about, just nod!" She shook her head and placed her finger on her beak. The other claw-hand tapped on a free spot right next to her. X sat down and together they watched an opera. „What am i watching here?" „La traviata" from Guiseppe Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave! The premiere was on 6th March 1853 in the Teatro La Fenice in Venice! The play is based on the novel „La dame aux camélias" from Alexandre Dumas, which came out 1848 in Paris!"

X found three locked doors in the left wing. Only one was unlocked and of course he entered. Moon Mare's room had four digital screen walls, ne at the ceiling and the floor as well. Together they showed a green field with a clear blue sky and a sun. „Nice! For a Maverick!" „If you say that one more time i'll make her punch you in the face!" „Make who punch me?" „Double X!" „Who is double X?" „It's a reward for beating us! But if you fail..." She sat on the ground and played chess against herself. „Care for a game?" „Sure! Okay, why are you all so... normal?! For women that is! Are you on a secret military mission and can't talk with us about that, because we don't have permission?" „Black or white?" „Black!" „The only thing i can say is, that if i win, the countdown for the missiles will get moved forward at 25 %!" „Can i refuse?" „If you're chicken out of the game i'll just launch them right here and now!" He sighed. „Fine! Let's play chess to save the world!" „No one said something about the world!" „Just because you're not directly aggressive or shooting at us, doesn't mean i'm totally buying that you're innocent! The missiles, what are they for? Do they contain a virus? One of your Mavericks is an expert in biological and digital viruses! I read an article about her a few months ago! I finally remembered that!" „Just a puzzle piece! White Pawn from E2 to E4!" „Black Pawn from C7 to C5! What are the missiles targeted at?" „Queen from D1 to F3! You and your friends!" „Don't play a fool on me! That's impossible! Black Pawn from D7 to D6!" „Oh, X! Don't take things so... literal! Seriously, all men should take that advice and chill! White Pawn from B2 to B3!"

The game went on and in the end, X won. „Yes!" He made a victory pose but the passing of time didn't waited for him. „Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 20 minutes! Attention all personal! Final fourfold missile launch in l-minus 20 minutes!" „Two of the missiles are filled with a biological virus and the other two with a digital virus! It will mutate the human cells or alter your programming! Have fun! You need to defeat all 8 of us, to enter all four missile silos!" X jumped up. „In 20 minutes? I thought that, in the end, you were on our side!" She stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest plates. „Seriously? That was it? By just playing nice, we could convince you, that we're no Maverick's! Now all of you will pay the price for that! Just wonderful! Stick a few shiny metal curves and thick butts in your face and you'll forget why you're actually here! Sweet! I need to remember that for the next meeting! Computer! Teleport my squad and the Maverick-Hunters into the hall of fame!" „In the what now?!"


	7. Chapter 7 Part 1

**7.1. Chapter: Utterly defeated - Part 1  
**Every single one of the eight Mavericks and the three Maverick-Hunters stood in a big empty hall. „Face us, Maverick-Hunters! One last time! And remember! If the fortress is losing all eight of our life signals, you can enter the silos and try to deactivate the missiles! You've a bit less than 19 minutes left to do all of that!" X and Axl looked concerned in Zero's direction. „I'll do it! At least, she will die through my own hands!" X and Axl nodded and looked to the Mavericks. „Choose, who do want to fight first!", said Moon Mare with crossed arms. Suddenly, Zero ran away. „I'm sorry! I'll try to open the doors manually! But i can't do this! Not again!" „Wait, Zero!" Rose ran after him. Axl ignored that and pointed at Lightning Otter, Titanium Doe and Samara Squirrel with his gun. „Three girls at once?", said X and would've raised an eyebrow if he had them. „Yes! The quicker we finish this, the better!" X still looked at Axl while pointing at Diamond Pen and Space Raven. Diamond Pen smiled and run her fingers through her transparent feathers on her head, which were arranged in a way, that they looked like long hair and said. „Well, the boy has good taste for a staunch single!"

Axl had misjudged their abilities. Titanium Doe ran straight at him, jumped and tried to kick the gun out of his hand. He raised his hand in the air, stepped back, Titanium Doe landed on both hooves and kicked immediately at his face. He blocked the kick in the last possible millisecond, before Lightning Otter jumped on Titanium Doe's shoulders, leaned over Titanium Doe' face and kissed her. She activated her special weapon while Titanium Doe still had her leg leaned against Axl's arm. Titanium Doe's armor was the perfect conductor for Lightning Otters self-produced electricity and Axl got the electric shoock of his lifetime. He deactivated himself, to minimize the damage on his vital internal parts. Samara grabbed him, before he could hit the floor and laid him down slow and careful. „Axl!"

X on the other hand two flying mavericks to fight. He dodged Diamond Pen's Diamond Feather special weapon and Space Raven tried to dig her plasma claws into him, while she flew towards him and immediately back into the air again. „Could at least one of you hold still for a second?" he tried to get a got aim but they were too fast for him. They looked at each other and flew towards him from two different sides. He moved his X-Buster quickly from one side to the other and shoot at them. But they flew in odd patterns and Diamond Pen reached him first, grabbed both arms and pulled herself towards him. They were now chest to chest. She looked sensual into his eyes and gave him a quick but deep tongue kiss. That behavior confused him for a millisecond. Enough for Space Raven to land behind him, grab his arms too and rip them straight out from his torso. X looked behind him at Space Raven. „Makerdammit! My arms! You ripped my freaking arms out! You roasted chicken!" She placed her normal claws around his helmet, while Diamond Pen knelt down before X, caressed his legs, grabbed them and lifted them and X into the air. Space Raven still had his helmet in her claws. X floated helplessly in the air and Diamond Pen grinned at him. She then twisted his legs and ripped them out as well. Now Space Raven held him only by his helmet. „My legs too? Seriously? Are you nuts?" Samara Squirrel came back. Without Zero. She smiled at X and waved. „Actually, i'm the one with the nuts!", she pointed at her cheeks, „Want some?" She created two nut grenades in her mouth and puked them into her open hands. „I could put these beautiful nuts right into your mouth!" Diamond Pen broke into laughter. „Nuts! In his mouth! Gold! Pure gold! Oh, Samara! I love you for who you are! Please! Never change!", said Diamond Pen between er outbursts.

Both, Zero and Rose Vixen hadn't stopped and were still running. „Zero, wait! We need to talk!" „I think the time for talking is over, Rose!" „Please, before you hate me! Let me tell you one last thing! Here!" She stopped ten meters away from him and pulled a connection cable out of her neck. „I need to show you two selected memories!" He sighed and ran back. „But make it quick!" „Promise! You'll understand everything after you've seen them and i hope you'll forgive us!"

„Rose Vixen's signal is gone!", said Virion Skunk, while Moon Mare activated a giant screen, that came out of the wall right now. „I see! But that doesn't matter! They can't stop us! Computer! Activate the countdown for liftoff! T-minus 60 seconds! I'll not waist any more time! Let's change the world forever! The cyber-feminisation virus, that Virion Skunk created, will turn every male human or Reploid slowly into lovely new females!" „You're insane! The humans will get extinct!", X shouted at her, but he couldn't do anything about it. „Admit your defeat!", said Rose Vixen, who now turned around the corner. X looked in shook. She held Zero's Saber in her hand. „Zero! No! You lying beasts! All of you! But Rose, he trusted you! He l..." Rose yelled at him and slammed her hand against her chest. „Shut up, X! Do you think, this was easy for me?" Diamond Pen walked around X while she talked and patted Rose Vixen's shoulder in recognition. „And don't be stupid! There are enough sperm banks around the world to fertilize them all - if needed! We could even clone sperm in laboratories! So chill, X!" The whole fortress shook when the four missiles lifted off. They appeared on screen after they had left the fortress. Every missile was shown in a separate window on the screen. Moon Mare raised her hooves. They were victorious and there was nothing X and the others could do about. Footsteps appeared and Zero walked at Rose Vixen's side. „What! Zero? But..." „Sorry! I just... couldn't do it!" „I see... i'm not mad at you!" Samara Squirrel walked over to Axl and rebooted him. When he was awake and saw, that they had lost, Moon Mare let the computer calculate the time until impact at the targets. „Impact in two minutes!" Diamond Pen opened her chest plates and revealed a little mini bar inside of her body. She filled glasses with a champagne energy drink and gave everyone a glass. Even the Maverick-Hunters got one under heavy protest. X, got his glass placed next to his head. But Diamond Pen's smile looked like that of a nice, kind woman and it looked honest. What an actor she was. Surely. After there were only a few seconds left, the countdown appeared in the center of the screen. Every female Maverick yelled in anticipation of their victory over the Maverick-Hunters, but especially the successful execution of their secret plan. „... Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Fore, Three, Two, One, Zero!"


	8. Chapter 7 Part 2

**7.2. Chapter: Utterly defeated - Part 2  
**„Happy April Fool's Day you three! We just made April Fool's out of you! We totally pranked you!" X and the other two couldn't believe it. Seriously? All of that just for an April Fool's gag? Seriously? Zero wasn't much of a drinker but he was glad, that he had a glass in his hand. Women. Unbelievable. „Is someone going to repair me or what? Oh and - you're nuts! All of you!" „All of that, just to prank us? Seriously? But what about the missiles?", asked Axl. Moon Mare walked to the Maverick-Hunters and explained everything. „What Samara told you at the beginning wasn't a lie! We also had the permission from the military to shoot at these places! And i'm legally owning this fortress! We've constructed it with legally bought materials, that we just got a bit quicker than usual - thanks to Diamond Pen! The engine we took from the ship is just a fake! The real engine is in one of the secret military facilities on the planet! Oh! Look at the screen! Now the best part is finally starting!" The missiles had other thrusters that got activated and all four of them now stood in imaginable corners of a rectangle. In the next moment metal bars appeared out of the missiles and even formed a rectangle. A holographic picture was shown. With everyone of them on it. And there was even text in big letters for everyone to read. „We just pranked the S Rank Maverick Hunters. X, Zero and Axl! And theoretically gave them their first ever defeat! By the gentle hands of female, military Reploids!" „Oh, and by the way! We never left the military!", said Virion Skunk and took a sip from her glass. „Okay! I think i calmed down enough and between Rose and me, we had a talk and everything is fine! But, what about the security breaches? Wasn't that a bit too much?", asked Zero. „Look at me! Right now i'm the literal embodiment of „too much"!" „Embodiment! Sure, X! Whatever you say!", said Axl with Samara Squirrel at his side. Space Raven answered that question from Zero. „Article twenty one, paragraph three! A General can order a subordinate to get a backup copy of any S Rank Maverick Hunter for emergency cases. Even without the consent or knowledge of a copy request of the Hunter himself! And not one of you three has a backup on the HQ servers! Believe me, i checked! But now you have them online! But you haven't even seen what else we did „too much" of! I think you can come out now, sweetheart! It's over!"


	9. Chapter 8

**8\. Chapter: The nurse  
**„Over indeed! It's all over! For you!" The computer voice had changed and everyone recognized that voice immediately, but X said it first. „Sigma!"

Hell broke lose. The big screen exploded and every wall in that big room spat out mines, which exploded on contact and everyone was screaming and dodging but all it took was one misstep and the chain reaction started to unfold.

When the dust had settled, there were debris and Reploid-parts everywhere. Impossible to say, if some just went to a hospital or were destroyed. The only one, that was recognizable and had more luck than anyone else was X. He was still alive. Still disassembled but alive. He was in stand-by and therefore unconscious. „There is only one signal left! I hope that everyone else is okay! Wherever they are right now!" The female picked up X and whistled with her index finger and thumb in her mouth. A dog as big as a wolf run against her and collected X' limbs on his back. „Come, old boy! We have work to do! I hope that Virion Skunk don't mind if we use her room for the repairs!"

When X opened his eyes again, he felt complete again but couldn't move. The room was dark and his night vision malfunctioned. But there was someone else in this room. „Sigma?!" „You're awake?" The voice was female and sounded nice. „Who are you? Your voice is not in my data banks!" „Of course not!", she whispered these words and sounded a bit sad while saying that. She seemed to scrabble around in a tool box. „Ah, there it is!" She came near and activated a light over X. The female Reploid was beautiful. She had long blonde hair. A green ribbon made out of metal held her hair together. It reached as far as to her knees. Her helmet was shaped like a nurse hat on the upper half and the white solar panel on the front of her helmet looked like a big cross. The upmost of the lines extended to the top of the helmet and formed an „O". Therefore the whole solar panel was the symbol for female and the cross-part for health. Her torso looked feminine and her upper chest plates where heart shaped. After the waist, her torso extended into a giant big metal skirt, that covered her legs up to the knees. The lower parts of her boots were formed like wedge heels. Her main metal color was cherry red with white has her sub color. She had golden frames which separated certain areas of her body from one another. Her eyes had a wonderful sapphire blue tone. „Am i in a pretty poor hospital or what? And who the heck are you and where are my friends?" „I don't know!" X got angry. „What?! Where we are, who you are or where my friends are?!" „Please, behave! And i meant the later! I'm just a sister!" „Yes, i can see that!" „I meant tha..." „I don't care! Can i go now?" „Some of your abilities are still malfunctioning! You can't copy any special weapons or use your night vision! Your intercom is also broken but i can't fix it! I would need to open your head to access it directly! I would need to hack your software to reactivate your abilities! But without your consent i couldn't and didn't wanted to do it!" „I see! We're still in the fortress?" „Yes! My guard dog is patrolling the area and is disabling the hidden mines in the walls!" „Wonderful! Who even placed those there?" „I think it was Sigma himself, with a little help of Virion Skunk's nanobots!" „Possible!" „I don't think any of them were aware of Sigma's presence!" „Yeah! They were to busy pulling of the prank of the century! Oh, this will so go down into the history books! This will not be one of my favorite memories!" She corrected him and tapped his helmet. „Yet!" „Hm?!" „This will not be one of your favorite memories yet! Do you consent?" „Yes! Repair the damn thing already!" „Good! Please hold still!" X was still fixed on the repair-table. „Funny nurse!" „I haven't done something like that before but my programming is just awesome!" „Awesome? What are you? Twelve?" „Asked the adult Reploid who is constantly grousing since he is awake! I learned so much since my r... construction!" She lifted the helmet of his head and placed it carefully on the ground. „I'm getting more and more used to that body! It's really great!" She sounded more and more enthusiastic but still shy and nice. „You're X!" „Yes!" „Good! Very good! But that wasn't a question!" The nurse repaired his intercom and put everything back together. Then she lifted the fixation and Y could get his feet back onto the floor. „Great! Now i'll go after Sigma!" „I tracked his movements, since he appeared!" X was in shook. „He was here?! Right here?!" He pointed at the floor and the nurse nodded. „He kidnapped everyone except you! I was not in the fortress when he attacked you all! But if found the security videos!" The nurse went over to Virion Skunks big screen and tipped on the big keyboard. „Here! That is his current location!" „But! But! That's in space!" „No! It's exactly 238.860 miles away!" „Moon! Space! All the same!" „No it's not, X!" „Are you arguing with me?" „Why not! I feel like it! Live with it!" The door opened and the guard dog of the nurse ran into the room and towards the two.

He jumped in her arms. His color palettes were the same as hers. His form was that of a big wolf. „Good boy! I hope you were busy while i repaired Mega Man!" He liked her face, jumped back on the floor and barked. „X! Mega Man X!" „Of course, X! Sorry! Old ha... oh!" She placed her index finger on her lips. „Old what?" „It's not important! I was just mumbling to myself! So! How do we go into space?" „We?" „Of course, we! The three of us!" She pointed at the dog, X and herself. In that order. „I'm to exhausted to argue with another woman for the rest of my life! I think that, if we take the spaceship, we could be there in no time!" „Great! Let's rock and roll!" She raised her fist in the air. „What?" „I'm just trying out different things! I still need to find myself and my place in this world!" „Well, then let's see if you have a bright future as a nurse ahead of you! I bet that, if we get them all back, every single one of them needs more than just their intercom back!" „Don't forget, that i reassembled your limbs and you didn't even thanked me for my services!" „I'm so sorry! That day was totally crazy! Thank you, for repairing me!" „Your welcome!" „So, how much do i owe you?" „We will talk about that later!" „How much later?" „I'll tell you when i'm ready to talk about certain things!" „All right! Then let's go to the moon, eh, what's your name?" „I want to reveal it in front of your friends as well! I want to see their faces too!" „Okay? What's so special about a name!" „You've no idea!" „Right! But you girls like having secrets! I know that by now!" She just smiled and petted the dog.


	10. Chapter 9

**9\. Chapter: Moon Fortress  
**X, the nurse and the dog landed directly in front of Sigma's fortress. There was just now way, to sneak from the earth to the moon. Even when they would've activated the engine, he had found their ship in no time. So they could land directly in front of him. It didn't made a difference at all. „Wait here! I'll return with my friends and the ROSA Squad as soon as possible!" „But!" He placed his finger on her lips. „Please! He is dangerous and you're just a nurse! Leave the fighting to me and the Maverick-Hunters, as well as the military!" She sighed. X left the spaceship and walked towards Sigma's fortress - again. Hopefully for the very last time.

The Fortress was quickly explored and after an hour X stood in front of eight teleporters for the ninth time. They were placed in a circle and a holographic image showed him, who awaited him after each teleporter. „I have to fight the squad for real? Sigma, you sick bastard! That's ironic and sad at the same time! I'm so sorry girls! You didn't deserve such a horrible faith! Looking back, i really enjoyed the day with you!" The order of the teleporters was a follows. Virion Skunk, Titanium Doe, Moon Mare, Diamond Pen, Samara Squirrel, Lightning Otter, Space Raven, Rose Vixen and then the circular placement looped back to Virion Skunk. He decided to start with Titanium Doe.

A second after he was transported to the generic battle hall, Titanium Doe ran towards him. He tried to reason with her but she was nothing more than a machine, who lost her entire identity and maybe even all her memories. That was the moment, that X knew, he had to finish all eight of them, before he could proceed to Sigma.

Titanium Doe didn't had an energy weapon and X could easily get her into a stalemate and than he just blasted her first leg of with his X-Buster, when it came right at his face. The second shot destroyed her head and he could acquire her special weapon. The Titan Hoof.

Now the puzzle began. Which reprogrammed female should he finish next? „I bet the Titan Hoof is effective against Lightning Otter and her electric attacks!"

X was right. He kicked Lightning Otter into oblivion with the Titan Hoof and got the Flash Kiss in return. „Flash Kiss? Seriously? Could there be a special weapon more girly than this?"

Virion Skunk was the next on his list. He ran towards her and gave her a Flash Kiss. But it wasn't effective against her and so he leaved the area. He sighed and tried Rose Vixen next. The Kiss worked wonders on her. Even with her Thorn Whip she wasn't much of a threat.

X used the Thorn Whip to let Samara Squirrels' nuts explode directly in her head. Destroying her with just one hit. Afterwards he used the nut grenades to blast Virion Skunk into the Reploid heaven. „Okay! That is more girly than the kiss!" He got her Perfume Virus as a price.

Now only three were left. Diamond Pen, Space Raven and Moon Mare. As he exited Virion Skunk's hall, he got a surprise. There was only one teleporter left and the hologram showed all three of them in that place. „Great! Now we're changing the rules, Sigma?", he yelled into the darkness and of course no one answered. „Here we go!"

He entered and before he could react, Moon Mare's knee kicked under his chin and his head almost broke free from his neck. She grabbed his helmet and slammed his face into the floor and threw him across the room. He was grabbed by Diamond Pen while flying and Space Raven now came flying towards them. X activated his X-Buster and all three plasma claws went into his left arm and ripped him apart. Diamond Pen let go of him but he landed on his feet. He also jumped backwards immediately, before Space Raven could stomp on him with her claw-boots. He used Virions Virus Perfume on Raven, she was close enough for it to get in contact with her, but it did nothing. Moon Mare ran and jumped over Space Raven, and dropped a kick at X' helmet while falling back to the ground. X stepped aside and sprayed her with the Virus Perfume and Moon Mare just stood still for few seconds. Which X used to shot her head clean of her body. He gained her Moon Speed ability for that. That increased his speed enormous and before Space Raven could lift off into the air, he jumped up, grabbed one of her boots. The Moon Speed had also powered up his shots. X could charge his shots in a fraction of a second and shot directly all up from her pelvis to her head. Destroying the second last of them. Which gained him the special weapon Space Claws. Diamond Pen landed back on the ground. She against X. The outcome of the fight was already clear for him.

Diamond Pen waited for X to make move. He didn't switched special weapons and stayed at Moon Speed. Charged his shot, ran forward and fired as rapidly as he could. But Diamond Pen blocked the shots with her Diamond Feather ability. Which created an indestructible ball of titanium-based diamond feathers around her. The weapon energy for Moon Mares special weapon went to zero and X switched to the Space Claws and ripped the spherical shield away but Diamond Pen turned around and raised her feathery tail,which she lost in the process. She deactivated the shield and jumped backwards and blocked two more attacks with er arms by moving his arms out of her way with her own arms. She kicked him but he just pushed forward and cut er throat open with a quick double slash. And with a kick to her pretty face, her head fell of too. X gained the last special weapon. Diamond Feathers. It was done. But there was no time to lose or mourn. He had to rescue Zero and Axl and defeat Sigma once and for all.


	11. Chapter 10

**10\. Chapter: Greek 18  
**X reached Sigma's lair. Axl and Zero were deactivated and rested behind a vitrine. Like some dolls on display. „Welcome again, X! It's finally time to met your maker!" Sigma threw his cape away and revealed something sinister. „Is that..." „... the Space-Sphere-Portal engine? Yes! I waited so long and thanks to their little prank, i could get my hands on the real engine, studied it, constructed a smaller version of it and place it inside myself! Witness, the birth hour of my new final form! Portal-Sigma!" After Sigma had spoken, he teleported himself and X back to earth. Right in the middle of a human city and a shopping arcade. „Sigma! No!" Sigma teleported into the place of a couple and both died instantly. He teleported a few more times and killed several humans in the process. He ripped them apart when he reappeared. „Sigma! Stop this! Please!" Sigma stopped in front of X and grabbed him bi his neck, lifted him up and teleported with him onto the outside streets. Destroying two cars in the process. „Please! Don't!" „I like it when you plead for their worthless lives!" „Sigma!" It was Moon Mare's Voice. But how could that be? She and the other stood there, as if nothing had happened to them. „Sorry, X! Did you really thought we would go toe to toe with three S Rank Maverick-Hunters, when we would pretend, that we lost our marbles? We constructed basic Reploid bodies and gave them our bodies with the help of Axl's copy ability! Afterwards, we uploaded our entire software package into them but reduced their powers and combat experience a bit! And now we will finish him once and for all! This is, what every single one of us had trained for! Sigma! Your time is over! ROSA F1 Squad! Let's show these boys what we, in our true forms and at our full potential, are really made of!" After Moon Mare's speech was over, Diamond Pen explained another thing. „Will we were in space, we could talk all the time and came up with the idea to prank you! But Virion Skunk and Diamond Doe developed something beyond our wildest calculations! We kept that new RF-Drive a secret and since we landed back on our home planet, we had a bit of spare time left to finish the beta and alpha state!" „Girls! Fuse!", ordered General Moon Mare and they all saluted. All eight activated their F-Drives and highly advanced nanobots in combination with a highly complex teleportation program starter their tech-magic. The F-Drive could fuse two Reploids into one, if the both agreed to it.

Titanium Doe and Moon Mare transformed into Moon Doe. The first one was always the main and the second one the sub in that fusion. Titanium Doe gained Moon Mare's strength and got more bulky in the process. Moon Mare's special weapon was also permanently activated.

Samara Squirrel and Virion Skunk fused into Virion Squirrel. So that every nut grenade could be programmed with viruses. An her nuts were now as small as a golf ball, but with the same explosion power as before. Since their basic designs were the same, she also gained the ability to throw the nut virus grenades out of her, now even bigger, tail.

The next obvious women who fused into one were Diamond Pen and Space Raven. Space Pen got the plasma claw-hands and -boots of Space Raven. Her Diamond Feathers were altered into a tiny version but gained the ability to surround themselves with a feather-shaped layer of plasma. Her wingspan was double as wide as before.

Lightning Otter and Rose Vixen were a clever choice for a fusion. They gave birth to Rose Otter. She got the two thorn whips instead of the one, that Rose Vixen had. And thanks to her ability to produce electricity, she could expand her attack range and let the electricity flow over the entire surface area of her whip, without hurting herself. Thanks to her advanced isolation armor.

Moon Doe, Virion Squirrel, Space Pen and Rose Otter were ready to fight Sigma. But first, he had to move away from the people. „Sigma! Fight us in your fortress on the moon!", yelled Moon Doe towards him. But Sigma threw X almost 160 feet away and walked to a scared human couple, grabbed the mans head with one hand and looked at the woman. „Is this your husband?" She was to afraid to speak and just shook her head while she started to cry. „Fiance?" She nodded. „Say, goodbye, darling!" The man cried in silence. His fiance started to sob, fell on her knees and buried her face in her hands. „Say goodbye! I'll not say that again!" He started to cry too, before Sigma lost his patience and crushed the mans head. „No!" The scream was like a sword to the heart in everyone's ears. The woman collapsed. Sigma grabbed one leg of the human woman, lifted her up in the air, took her under his right arm and teleported both of them away.

„Where are we?!" Moon Doe wanted to know that. She couldn't calculate their current destination. She had too few information's to determine that value. A human bystander answered. „You're in Crystal City in former Italy!" „The next spaceport is 745 miles away!", said Space Pen. X ran to them and was furious. „We need to get after him! Now!" X yelled at them. „And how?" Virion Squirrel yelled back at him, „Even if we were at a spaceport right now, a new spacecraft had to be prepared for the next flight into space! And that takes at least a few minutes!" „Great! So we just wait until a spacecraft is ready?" Moon Doe answered him with crossed arms. An ambulance finally arrived at the scene. But that made no difference. He was dead the moment, Sigma laid is hand around his head. „No! I already ordered a transporter that will bring us to the nearest spaceport and then we will wait! The employees are already working on that unplanned, emergency liftoff!" Space Pen leaned over to Moon Doe and whispered. „I can't reach her!" „Why?" „The signal isn't going through! I bet Sigma shielded the entire place and the spacecraft stands right inside of the barrier!" „Sigma!" yelled X and raised his fist up and towards the moon. He new the position through calculations. Even if he couldn't see him right now.

The nurse still sat in the spacecraft. Should she wait here or leave the shuttle? She couldn't get a message to X or anyone else in the fortress. But that could be because of a possible barrier. She finally decided to leave with the guard dog of her and walked towards the fortress.


	12. Chapter 11

**11\. Chapter: Kat  
**Sigma on the other hand stood in front of the female human. She had stopped crying. No she resignated and sat on the floor. With the head on her arms, which rested on the knees. „I said! Get up!" He yelled at her grabbed her, at both arms and made her stand on her feet. But he didn't let her arms go. „What is your name, meat container with water?" „Katrina!" „I'll call you Kat from now on! Understood?" „Please, kill me!" „Kill you? No, i'll not be so kind and just end your suffering! I'll train you, you will obey me and by the end of the week you'll call me Master!" „Never!", she growled at him. „Kat! If you run away! I'll punish you beyond your human imagination! Stay at my side!"

The nurse and the dog stood in front of the giant fortress door. „No panel and i can't copy his voice! That wouldn't be very polite and breaking in like a vandal is not my style! Should we just knock?", she locked down at the dog and he barked back. „Yeah! Let's never forget who we are!" She knocked three times and waited patiently. To her surprise, the door was opened and they could enter.

„I think that's the first case of someone knocking at one of my entrance doors!" The woman stood right next to him and he looked from the terminal back to her. „Undress!" She did nothing. He waited a few minutes before he repeated himself. „Undress, Kat! You are my slave now! And i order you to get naekd!" She shook her head. He grabbed her skull with one hand. His other hand was placed near her eye, before he touched her eyelids with his index finger and thumb.

The nurse had found a map of the fortress and one biological life form. „A human woman is right next to Sigma! Strange! We should hurry!" The dog barked approvingly. They ran as fast as they could. „I wonder why we didn't saw any enemy robots so far?"

The woman held her left hand before her left, empty eye socked. It felt strange to look at her own eye on the ground. It hurt extreme. She really wanted her suffering to end. She just wanted peace and silence to welcome her. But that didn't happen. „Listen! Undress or you will lose one of your potential milk bags!" She obeyed this time and undressed under new tears.

The nurse and the dog ran deeper into the fortress and stood in front of a giant door. „Interesting! This door shouldn't be here! According to the map we just saw!" „Miss nurse!" Sigma talked over the speakers. „Let the human woman go!" „I've plans for her! I'm afraid she will only leave my side ever again, when her heart stopped beating! Not a single second earlier!" „Are you behind that door?" „No!" „How is her condition, Sigma?" „My new slave will get a new uniform in a few minuted and a high-tech collar with her new name on it!" „That wasn't answering my question at all!" „I don't care about your questions!" „And about any defenses! Where are the mandatory robots that guard those fortresses?" „They're unworthy! I'll only have two new guards! Since this place is a bit large, it takes them a while to patrol every corner but don't fret! They're coming right at you, while we speak! You'll be my personal maverick repair maid, once i reprogrammed you after your defeat through my new elite guards! Zero and Axl! Say hello to them! Reprogramming them was a piece of cake for me! But that's not all! I wiped their memory banks by overwriting everything with zeros!" „So, total retrograde amnesia without hope for recovery! How very sad!" The nurse lowered her head and looked very sad on the floor. She heard foot steps. But not just from one person. „I see! This is it then!" , she looked down at her dog and smiled heavily.

Sigma looked at Kat, who now whore a uniform he had just created and thought of minutes ago. „You look great, slave!" „..." „Say, what you really thing!" „I hate it!", she was very furious. Her sadness had vanished to make room for her anger. „Wonderful! If i were human, i would fall in love with you! Glad that i'm not one of your kind!" „We're not worthless!" „Oh, i don't think your kind is worthless! It's just weak and should bow before their new masters! Us!" He placed his hand on his chest and walked around her in circles. „If you want to die so hard, you have to earn it! Obey me, be a good slave and soldier and maybe, maybe if you please me! I'll have mercy and end your existence! But you have to earn it! Say it!" „Thank you!" „Thank you who?" „Thank you, Master!" He stopped in front of her. „Salute!" She saluted. „Great! I'll train you as far as i can train a weak, fragile and dumb human! What are you?" „A weak, fragile and dumb human!" „Correct!" „Here!" He gave her a tablet. „Learn the interior of the fortress! Your quarter is on floor 2, section B, room 9! Understood?" „Yes, Master!" „If you try to kill yourself, i'll teleport to you, save you and make your upcoming life even more dreadful than before!" „Yes, Master!" „Good! Now go, Kat! Go, my slave!" She bowed before him and ran of as fast as she could. Sigma just smiled at her.

„No! We don't fight them!" She talked to the dog while both of them ran away from Zero and Axl. The dog barked an answer. „Wait? And you couldn't tell me that a bit earlier?" He barkd again. „I swear, if Virion programmed you like that on purpose, i'll have a serious talk with her!" The nurse stopped and the dog jumped at her side. „I really hope you can do this! Do it now!" The dog's metal armor broke apart and the cracks began to flicker in turquoise and violet. A buzz came out of the dog and in the next few seconds, he and the nurse teleported directly to the human woman.

Of course they startled her and the nurse tried to calm her down. „It's okay! I'm here to help!" „Please, if you find's out you where here! He'll never let me go!" The door opened and Sigma stepped in. „A the nurse and her patient! Do i need to make an appointment, miss nurse? I think i have a human splinter from a skull in my hand!" Kat flinched at his words. „It's all right!" The nurse hugged her very carefully and stroke the brown hair on top of Kat's head. And then she dunned Sigma. „You know, she has a trauma, right?" „I don't care! She'll be the very first human soldier in my maverick army, since i was enlightened!" „She needs immediate psychological care! Let me fly her back to earth, without shooting the spacecraft down! Promise!" Sigma leaned forward, smiled and simply said. „No!" He turned around and left the room. „If you are still here, when i'm coming back, i'll deactivate, reprogram you and delete all your memories! Your decision! If you take her with you! I'll kill her as soon as i got you both captured by Zero and or Axl!" „You're a monster! I've never seen such evil! Not even in..." Sigma yelled. „Shut up! I don't care about anything you say! Leave or die!" He waved his arms around and was so close again, that she could see fingerprints on his metal armor. Her fingerprints. She looked at the human woman and was very concerned. „You really need to leave her alone! Please!" „Please?", he said disgusted, as it was a filthy, perverted word. He turned around and leaved her quarter for good. The nurse reached out with her hands for the woman but she shook her head and even moved backwards. „Please! I know you're scared and deeply sad! But we have to leave!" She walked even further away from the nurse and shook her head. The nurse sighed. She couldn't leave her here but if she took her against her will with her, both of their lives were more than in danger. They were as good as over. The nurse couldn't find a solution for that dilemma, that wasn't against some- or anything she believed in.

X and the four fused ROSA soldiers final sat in another space shuttle. They were already on their way to the moon again. But without the engine it would take them at least six hours before they arrived. And only if Sigma didn't shoot them into pieces, before they could even land.

„Sigma, we need to talk!" „Speak!", he spoke over the speakers, while she still stood in the woman's quarter. „I'll stay at her side!" „No!" „Sigma! She needs help! She needs..." „One more word an i'll kill you and she will get both her legs disassembled! Leave, nurse! There is nothing left for you to do here! This is my final warning!" The nurse looked down and guided the dog with her head out of the room. She then went on a route to exit the fortress. The dog barked in protest. „If i take her with me or stay, he will kill her! I'm not concerned about me but i can't let him kill her! That would be against everything he thought us! Even if it means letting her stay at Sigmas side! She is at least not in any danger if she behaves - for now at least!" He barked two times. „I don't know! I hope they'll arrive soon! What's taking them so long?" He barked once more. „I don't know how the Space-Sphere-Portal-Engine works! And how knows what will happen, if i press the wrong buttons or make mistakes in setting everything up! It's sad but using the engine is not an option!"

When the nurse finally went outside and ran towards the spacecraft, Sigma activated the plasma cannons of his fortress and blasted the ship into junk. „No! That, mean monster! He destroyed the ship!" She saw a shadow between the earth and the moon. „Another spacecraft?" She zoomed in with her eyes as far as she could and it was in fact a spacecraft. „Finally! But please, watch out for the cannons!" She laid her hands together like someone who wanted to pray.

„He just destroyed the other spacecraft and the engine within! Be careful, Space Pen!", said X. „This shuttle was not constructed for fast evasive maneuvers!" But Sigma lad them land in one piece. It was only when they had left the spacecraft, that he destroyed the second one as well. „And we're trapped!", said Moon Doe. The nurse waved her hands at them and the five of them met with her.

She told them what had happened in the fortress, by sharing her memory with all of them per blue tooth. „No! Zero! Axl!" X slammed his fist into the ground. „Sigma will pay for this!", said Virion Squirrel.

After X had blasted the front door into pieces, they entered the fortress for the second but hopefully last time.


	13. Chapter 12

**12\. Chapter: Casualties  
**Zero and Axl didn't stood a chance against the combined powers of the ROSA squad. The battles lasted mere seconds. Thanks to Zeroi's and Axl's backups on the HQ servers, they would only lose a few hours of freshly made memories.

The six entered a big empty hall with a throne in it. Sigma's and Kat's signals came from here. Sigma sat on the throne and Kat stood at his side. With her arms placed behind her back. She looked very thoughtful and whore an eye patch over her left eye. Everyone knew that Sigma was responsible for this, without asking the question. „Impressive! You're all very strong! But even pure strength won't help you, when my plan succeeds!" „What plan?", asked Moon Doe. „Actually, your prank was inspiring!" Everyone looked concerned. Did they had just gave him ideas? „I'll turn every human into a maverick! And i'll start... with her!" He pointed is flat hand at Kat. X activated hixs arm cannon and aimed at Sigma. But the nurse laid her hand on his X-Buster and shook her head. „She is to close and i fear, she'll use that opportunity to get what she wants!" „Thank you for your concern! But i now see the design flaws in us humans! We need to evolve! We need to advance! I don't want to be a weak lump of flesh anymore! I don't want to be afraid or sad and i want to forget all that bad stuff, that happened in my life! Even if it means forgetting him! Evolution requires sacrifice!" She cried while she talked but didn't wiped her tears with her hands. She just let them flow.

„Kat! That's nuts!", said Virion Squirrel and everyone looked at her. „What?! Can't a squirrel say nuts anymore, without anyone thinking it's a pun?" Moon Doe walked forward and talked while doing so. „Listen, child! You just lost a loved one! And that hurts!" „What do you know? You have no idea what true feelings are!", Kat yelled at her, moved her arms to their sides and made two fists. The nurse now shouted at her. „You're traumatized! You need psychological help! Please! Don't take the first exit door someone is offering you! There are so many more possibilities out there! Please, Kat!" She made a praying gesture again. Sigma talked now. „Go into your room, until i call you!" „Yes, Master!" Kat walked towards the six and stopped in front of the nurse. Kat caressed the side of the nurse's helmet and smiled at her. „I appreciate your kindness and care for me! But i've chosen my path! Please, accept that!" She walked past them and left the throne room.

„She is finally out of the way!", said Rose Otter. „Time to finish you! Once and for all!", said X. „I'll go and see after Kat!", said the nurse and went out of the throne room too. X charged his X-Buster and fired at Sigma but he teleported away and the shot just destroyed his throne. Sigma stood in front of X. He ignored the others and drew a large sword out of his back. „I'll destroy you, X!" „Try it, Sigma!"

Kat and the nurse walked into the direction of the medical station of the fortress. „He already knew about a program, that was deemend unethical by humans and was abandoned! It can digitize every humans memories, emotions and character traits and turn them into the correct kind of code and transfer them into a Reploid body!" The nurse was filled with horror. „I'll chose my new body design and after the process started, it can't be interrupted! That would be to dangerous! When everything worked, i'll be born anew!" „Please, Kat! That's not the right way! You can't just run away from your painful memories or emotions! And you definitely can't throw away your humanity like this! This is wrong!" They arrived at the medical station and Kat entered. „Do you want to watch over me, while i upgrade myself?" „Do i have a choice? I don't want to harm you, but i can't force my opinion upon you neither! Even if you're in a bad mental state! Please think this trough!" „I already have, nurse!" „I've a name!" They entered the station and the door closed behind them.

All five of them fought Sigma at the same time, but is portal ability made him hard to hit with their weapons. Moon Doe was rendered useless in that fight. She couldn't even get into reach. Rose Otter could get a short hit on him. But he was immune to the electricity from the whip. Only X, Virion Squirrel and Space Pen were able to hit him, if they tried really hurt but they only made scratches in his armor. „Can he stop moving around? How on earth, or moon in this case, should we destroy him, if he moves like that?" , asked Space Pen. „Not at all!", replied Sigma and activated shoulder cannons, that were hidden inside his shoulders up until now. And then he fired plasma at the five. For a brief second he teleported behind Rose Otter, took er whip and could now teleport both of them. He teleported himself into one of the many craters but Rose Otter materialized inside the stone slope of the crater. Sigma tried the same with Moon Doe but she just rammed her fist towards his chin. He blocked quickly with his hands and ripped her arm of. Slapped her face with er own hand from er ripped of arm and threw him away. Moon Doe jumped backwards into Sigma's open arms. He hugged her and placed her face against his shoulder, before destroying it with his shoulder plasma cannons. Virion Squirrel let it rain nut grenades from her tail but sigma teleported himself away every time, before they exploded. Space Pen didn't even tried to fight him anymore and thought about other ways, that could earn them a victory against him. Sigma used that calculation process and teleported his hand in her chest. After a strong pull he ripped half her innards out of her. She attacked him with her plasma claws, regardless of her destiny. But he just grabbed her arms and slammed them into her own head. He moved her arms wildly around and let go. Space Pen was gone. Even X had stopped fighting him like this and tried to think about a way to beat that teleporting maniac. Virion Squirrel used Sigmas fixation on Space Pen's lifeless body, to get him from a blind spot. She wagged her tail in his face and let her grenades out but Sigma just held a few hatches closed and the grenades that got stuck. They exploded in her tail and destroyed him. Sharp metal debris flew through the air and directly at Sigmas surprised face. He was too slow and got a few cuts in his face. But nothing fatal. Virion Squirrel was a creative crazy girl and just hugged his neck and gave him a deep kiss, while creating grenades in her cheeks and moving them with er tongue into sigmas mouth. He accepted the kind offer but teleported behind Virion Squirrel, grabbed the grenades in midair and shoveled them back into Virion Squirrels mouth. She couldn't stop the started timer of the grenades and her head exploded into thousands of pieces, leaving only X and Sigma behind.

Meanwhile, the nurse had overseen the forbidden and dangerous transformation process from human to Reploid. Kat had chosen a combination of different parts from past Mavericks. Magma Dragoon's head. Storm Eagle's wings. Magna Centipede's tail. Cyber Peacock's legs and feet. Slash Beast's arms and hands. Overdrive Ostrich's neck. Wheel Gator's shoulders and Flame Stag's torso. Her primary color was velvet red and sunrise orange her secondary color. The nurse waited for the new made Reploid to wake up. When she woke up, she immediately began to scream, jumped of the medical divan bed and banged her head against the wall. „Stop hurting yourself!" The nurse held her by her shoulders and pulled her towards her and hugged her. „I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now! Please stay calm! You must be in total shock!" „I... i made... a mistake!" „You just need to get accustomed to your new body, your feelings, your programming and everything! This will take a while! You're the first to do this!" „I feel, all is new, i can calculate 234847878 x 243748 in my head in seconds! And i can... i... so many possibilities i can think about multiple things at once... i... i'm... but... to much... need to differentiate... self... i don't want to... i... want to... self... destruct!" „Kat! No! Give yourself a few days before you decide, who do you want to be and what do you want to do from then on! I'm there for you! I can help you! Please! Don't give up! You're mere seconds old! Please!" Kat pushed the nurse out of the room and waved at her. „Please! Never change! Stay true to yourself! I couldn't! I... i don't want to life like this! It feels... not... good! I want to be with the man i loved for years! I need to go!" The door closed and the nurse heard an explosion a few seconds later. The whole ground shook and the door burst open by the shock wave. The nurse activated her external barrier before anything hit her and she moved out of the way as quick as she could. „She just self-destructed out of sheer panic, anxiety and despair! It must have been too much for her! All this new possibilities and supreme thinking! She couldn't bear it and saw only one way out! What a terrible fate! Human minds aren't meant for that type of conversion!" She heard a bark in the distance. She had forgotten the dog. How could she?

X and Sigma didn't knew anything about the new events, that had just unfolded a few hundred meters away from them. They fired at each other and dodged almost effortlessly. The battle went on for minutes and it would continue until one of them made a mistake, that the other could use to his advantage over the other. And then it happened. X slipped on Space Pens outer chest armor. Sigma punched him the face, since the engine had burned out. She just wasn't meant for that kind of usage. X feel on his but for a short moment but jumped up and that was Sigmas chance. He didn't said anything and just used his own saber to cut through X' waist. X feel onto the floor and shot back but Sigma slashed the shots into the distant wall. „I'll just blast you into pieces!" Sigma slashed the X-Buster in half. „And now, X?", Sigma smirked at him, „Pathetic!" He just let X on the floor and walked out of his sight. „In one week, there will be no human left on earth!" Sigma laughed manically while exiting the room.

It took the nurse a few minutes to enter the throne room again. „X!" She ran to him and knelt at his side. „You'll just fix me again! And then we will destroy him!" The nurse looked around in horror. No one but X had survived the encounter. She looked at him with a sad look and shook her head. „I see! She must have gone mad over her enhanced mindset and body!" „She self-destructed herself!" „That was what the scientists and the psychologists predicted, when that topic came up in the society!" He pulled himself up with his hands. „Ah! The nurse has a new patient! How sweet! After this is all over, you can become my queen and rule the world at my side! How does that sound?" „Disgusting!", replied the nurse and stood up. She opened one of the eight sides of her skirt and took a few small dark blue metal balls out of it and threw them against every camera in the room. Wherever Sigma was. He now couldn't see or hear them anymore. It was time to talk. She sat down and knew that he could always teleport near them. So it had to be a quick but emphatic talk.

„Did you know, that you're not Dr. Thomas Light's last creation?" „What?!" She pointed at herself. „I was! But i'm also his second!" „Eh! What?" „My serial number back then was DLN-002!" X checked his data bank and couldn't believe it at first. He thought that she made a joke. Women seemed to love jokes. „X! Dr. Light created me as a sister for you! But the girls here thought even further! Do you know what they did?" He didn't said a word. „They found my old body and took my entire memory block out of it and uploaded it into the advanced reploid software of the sister, he had created for you! I was the younger sister of your predecessor, our brother, Mega Man!", she pointed at herself, „I'm the former household robot of Dr. Thomas Light and first female Robot Master that was ever created! I'm Roll Light and i'm your older sister!" She stood up again. „When i repaired you, i installed the F-Drive into your body! And when the girls constructed me, funny, they had the same idea as i would've had later on! You know, what i'm suggesting, right? You can't fight him in this state and i can't repair you, with him still being around in the fortress! But we can do one last thing!", she reached out to him with her right hand, „Fuse with me! Don't worry, it's not permanent! But we're the only ones left! I provide the body and you provide your weaponry and other abilities but due to the programming of the F-Drive, i'll have to be the one in charge of our fused body! You'll be my subconscious and have no power over the movement of the body! Do you agree?" He thought about it for a second and nodded. He reached out with his left hand and they shook hands. „You don't have to search to deep! The program is right next to..." „Found it!" „You're really our younger brother! You have to consent to fuse with me, after you activated the F-Drive!" X found the executable file and executed her. Roll had already done this, when she had started her last explanation. „After i repaired you, i told you that i was a sister! Remember?" „You meant that literal! Not as a synonym for a nurse!" Roll smiled and lifted the upper half of her brother up. „Back then, i couldn't even lift Mega Man! And now look at me! I consent, to fuse with you!"X sighed one last time. „I consent to the fusion, Roll L!" Before she could answer to X naming her that, their F-Drives fused the siblings together.


	14. Chapter 13

**13\. Chapter: Dr. Light's children**

After the fusion process was over, Roll was a bit taller. She gained the ability to charge her Roll-Busters and the durability and strength of her upper body was raised. She now wore two hair ribbons instead of one and her long hair had now two long, big, black strands. Her main color was now magenta and her sub color light green. The white color had turned into red. „Warning! All mavericks! Move away from the launch zone! Warning! All mavericks! Move away from the launch zone!" „He want's to leave us here!" She began to ran to the launch zone and found her dog on her way to Sigma. „Rush! Come on, old boy! Run to the launch zone and stop Sigma!" He barked, activated the thrusters in his paws and flew ahead. („Wait! They also reconstructed Rush? The old robot dog that was mentioned in the records about Dr. Light's past?") Roll nodded their head. „X, i'll activate all four thrusters!" („Four? So two in every boot?") „No! They are on the underside of my skirt plate frame!" She activated her thrusters and followed Rush. („Who builds thrusters into a skirt?") „It was Space Raven's idea! After they found my blue prints, they changed them a bit here and there!"

Rush was the first to reach the launch zone and ran towards the spacecraft. Which was brought into position by a giant movable ramp in the floor. The ceiling had already been opened for a save flight path. Rush jumped on the uplifting ramp and from there onto the roof of the space shuttle. His new body had strong laser in his throat. He charged that laser in advance and used his teleportation device to teleport directly in front of Sigma and fired his laser as soon as he got teleported. The laser wasn't even fully materialized as he went trough Sigmas head. But that was Rush's plan. Sigma jumped from his chair and was lucky. As soon as Rush and his laser were fully materialized, Sigma's chest area was completely burned away, where the laser had materialized. Sigma would be dead if he hadn't jumped out of the pilot chair. „Stupid, dog! I'll crush you!" Sigma's hand Roll appeared in front of the cockpits window and smashed through. Rush didn't even jumped out of the way. He knew Roll would never hurt him. After she smashed through the glass, her fingers dug into the cockpit console, destroying a few buttons and switches, she used her new found grip to alter her position, turning her thrusters in front of Sigma to burn him at least a little bit. Sigma ignored the fire and heat from the thrusters and continued to move his hand in Rush's direction. But Roll let go of the console, deactivated her thrusters, jumped on her feet and grabbed his hand with her own, before he could reach Rush's skull. „You'll never touch, Rush! Only over my dead body!" Sigma just held her hand tighter and threw Roll against the entrance door of the cockpit. She could place her hand against the door, weakening the impact and before she could land on her feet, Sigma just drew his saber, jump towards Rush and slashed at his neck. But Rush lifted himself up, so that his only support were his hint legs and Sigmas slash missed it's mark. Rush jumped out of the space shuttle, so that Roll could focus solely on Sigma. Roll opened the cockpit door and ran deeper into the shuttle. Sigma took his time and followed her leisurely. He was so slow, that she could reach the next door, which took her out of the space shuttle and back onto the floor of the ramp. „Rush! Leave the room!", yelled Roll and Rush did as he was told, „And lock the door behind you, please!" („You noticed that the ceiling is wide open, Roll?") („Of course! I just want to know that Rush is in a save place, while we fight him! Is there anything i should know? Does he have some kind of habits in battle?") Sigma cut a hole through the ships hull with his saber and jumped in front of Roll. „Once i immobilized you, you'll be my secretary! What's your name?" „Roll! Roll L!" „Dr. Light had a female Robot Master called Roll!" „That would be me!" „You should have stayed deactivated!" He grabbed another saber from his waist and activated him. Now he wielded one saber in each hand. Without further talk he rushed forward. Roll used the thrusters to get some distance between them, de-clip the two ribbons from her hair, took one in each hand as well and turned a rotary switch 180 degrees on both of them. The outer parts of the ribbon went in cross directions and a light green barrier activated between the lines of the new formed crosses. („You now you have Busters in both arms, right?") („Would you please stop reminding of things that i'm totally aware of, X?") Roll stopped thrusting backwards and brought herself back to the floor. Sigma reached her and slashed towards her head but the ribbon-shields were pretty durable. She could feel the impact of the hit in every piece of her body. He was strong. Fighting him directly in close combat was not a a good idea. Roll pushed her shields against the next slash from his sabers and activated her thrusters. Sigma tried to grab one of her legs. But he had to let one of the sabers go first and that gave Roll the time to get out of his reach, before eh could grab her. Roll landed on the edge of the opened ceiling and deactivated one the ribbons. She placed the ribbon back on her hair and transformed her right arm into a Roll-Buster. She fired at him from a save distance and charged a few shots in between her attacks. But the distance was to great. He easily dodged every single shot of her. „This isn't working! Rush!" Roll yelled that but there was no way for her words to reach anyone. There was no air outside of the fortress, that could've transported her words. Sigma ran towards the door and slammed her open. Roll jumped down and followed him. She had an idea.

Sigma ran to the right but Roll took the opposite direction and went back into Sigma's throne room. The destroyed bodies of all three squad members laid on the floor. But Virion Squirrel's head wasn't there anymore. It had exploded into tiny pieces. Space Pen's head was just a pile of sliced pieces and Moon Doe's head was missing big chunks of it. „She tried Space Pen's head but the data files were to heavily damaged. Moon Doe and Virion Squirrel didn't even had hard drives left to access. And finding Rose Otter was impossible without an emitted signal from her body. There was just one option left. „Rush!" The dog was near and cam as quick as he could and sat down right in front of her. Roll knelt down and caressed his head. „Good, boy!" She let go and pulled a connection cable out of her neck and plugged the open end into Rush's connection cable. „I always wanted to do this!" („Perv!") She just rolled her eyes. Now she could access Rush's entire operating system, software's and codes. She copied a few chunks of her ai into a new created file and linked already existing files from Rush into that. Then she had to rewrite a few of Rush's old lines of code and voila. It was done. She disconnected the cables and retracted them into their necks. „Now! Say something!" „Thank you, Roll!" Roll smiled at Roll. „You've chosen wonderful first words!" She laid her hand back on his head. „I consent to fuse with you, Rush! What about you two boys?" („We're in this together! But isn't that a bit exaggerated?") („Consent!") („Alright! Alright! Gee, why couldn't he think about a brother for me instead of an older sister? I consent!")

Sigma was waiting for Roll to arrive in the room he had chosen to stay in. He had everything laid out to finish the Light-siblings once and for all.

Now, after that triple-fusion, Roll had given any authority over the fused body to the AI-upgraded Rush. Because of that the body was altered more than before. Rush's complete exterior design had been placed over Roll's body and made her look like an anthropomorphic dog. The skirt had retracted into the body and was used to give this new body more mass in other parts of the body. Because of this, Rush was now as tall as Sigma and even more stronger than before. He wore two dog collars around his neck and was still trying to get used to his software upgrades, when he found out, that he had plasma fangs and claws. The laser cannon in his throat was now chargeable and the thrusters in his paws and legs were more powerful than before. „I'm hungry! Let's eat some maverick metal!" He activated his plasma weaponry and the thrusters. After a few seconds he got Sigma's life signs, while he flew to the corridors of the fortress. „Gotcha!" To concentrate solely on his task, he even muted X and Roll without asking or telling them.

When the fused Rush reached Sigma in a dark room, he activated his night sight vision, rushed forward and slashed towards Sigma's head. Signa drew his two sabers and tried to block the bits but had to back up. Rush was more brutal than Roll or X. „Light!" The lights went on and because of the activated night vision, Rush was blinded for a brief second, before he turned the mode of. But Sigma used that fraction of a second to slash at Rush's neck. But Rush had quickly jumped while he was blinded and kicked forward. He hit Sigma's head and altered the direction of the sabers so slightly, that he got the under side of his boots cut of. He landed back on his damaged feet and slashed at Sigma's hands, damaging them and destroying both saber grips at the same time. And then he just jumped towards Sigma's neck and tried to bite into that area but Sigma grabbed Rush's arms and threw him against a wall. Rush landed on all fours, stood up and ran towards him. Sigma fired his shoulder cannons but Rush removed one of his green collars, transformed it into a circle with a handle and could activate a circular barrier before the first plasma shot reached him. He jumped forwards and just went wild, with the barrier shield in his paws. He could even get his paw near Sigma's neck but only had a brief second, before Sigma ripped his left arm of. Rush jumped away from Sigma and after he deactivated the shield, Rush smiled, while he held the green collar in his paws. Sigma had weaken the damage by using his arms to shield his face and body from the collar-barrier. „You knew Roll had two ribbons, right? And that they can be activated wireless?" Sigma now focused and saw, that Rush' second collar was missing. He placed his hands at his neck and felt the other collar around his neck. „And did you knew, that you can create a barrier within the ring of the collar, if you just invert the sides of the accessory?" With these words, everything was over. „You'll, pay for this, you mutt!" Sigma tried to get the collar of while Rush had still spoken but Rush was faster and activated the barrier of the collar. Since he had inverted the collar, the barrier was created inwards and beheaded Sigma. The head fell on the floor and the body just stood there. Rush walked over to the body, placed his paw on the back of the torso and pushed. „I'll get my revenge! I'm the future king of earth! I..." Sigma's own body crushed his head under his immense weight and silence filled the fortress.


	15. Chapter 14

**14\. Chapter: Footprints in the dust**

A week after the events, X, Roll and Rush sat, separated from each other and back to their own bodies, in the fortress of the ROSA squad and thought about on what to do with all that stuff, they had left behind here. Thanks to the HQ backups Zero and Axl had returned from their graves. X wanted to check out some of Virion's data on her computers. Axl got a closer look at all the stuff that Virion collected and Zero sat in Rose Vixen's garden at looked at her bed of roses. „I miss you!" Rush was at Roll's side in Doctor Lights old laboratory. It was now a museum. She stood in front of a husk recreation of her old self and read through data on a tablet. „What are you reading, L?" „The report of my ordered check-up from HQ! Looks like there were some data fragments in a hidden path on my hard drive, which they deleted! But other than that, i was fine and my programming got an approval and was allowed retroactive!" „But i wonder what's in my skirt pockets! I know what's inside of them but in some of these, the weight just doesn't align with the objects that should be inside!" Roll could open her skirt and detach it from the rest of her body. Revealing a normal locking leg and pelvis area underneath. She looked around herself. No one was here. It made her sad but she appreciated it right now, that she was alone. She placed her entire skirt on the ground and opened hatch by hatch. „Interesting!" She picked up eight different data sticks. „The color palettes match with those of the ROSA Reploids, who constructed me!" She had a wireless data stick reader in her forehead and leaned one of the sticks against it.

Zero, Axl and X decided, to activate the self-destruction sequence of the fortress. „Put the timer on an hour!" „All right!" Roll entered the control room of the fortress. „Hi, X! Hi, guys!" „Look who is here! The nurse sister!", said Zero. „X! Don't blow this place up!" X turned around from the console and Roll, who had placed the sticks between her fingers and thumbs, lifted her hands in the air. „We can bring them back! All of them!"

It took HQ a whole two weeks to rebuild all eight Reploids of the squad.

The backups were from the time, in which they had reunited with Roll on the moon. A sneaky Virion Squirrel had silently made backups of all eight Reploids, before they entered the fortress again. Since she was the admin of them, she knew everyone's firewall and their personal passwords and could easily get access to all the data she needed for a proper backup.

Roll and X sat on a bench on a beach and watched a sunset in the area, that was formerly known as Majorca. „You know what i'm asking myself, X?" „Hmm?" „Why had no one noticed, that Sigma was building a fortress right on the moon's surface? The trips alone that he would've needed to get all the necessary materials up there, is so big, it's just impossible for this kind of operation to go totally unnoticed by anyone on earth! This is really bugging me!" „Big Sis, you're thinking about this to much! It's just another fortress of him!" „I don't know, X!" She leaned against his shoulder and looked up to the rising moon. „Thinking about the fortress just feels so odd and frightening!" „So, do you want to stay with me?" „Unnecessary question! Of course i want to!" „I meant as a Maverick-Hunter" „Hmm!" „There a different kind of jobs you could do! Hunting is just one part of it! You could also be an Operator or a Medic!" „I'll thinking about it! Give me some time!" „How much?" „A day or two!"

Later on, the eight of them applied to join the Maverick-Hunters and so did Roll. But Rush, unknowingly to all, downgraded himself to his programming before the events of the moon fortress had happened. He was now a dog without the advanced AI, that Roll had given him. But he had kept a backup of Roll's update in a hidden folder, before rolled everything back. Just in case the other Rush was needed again one day.

Roll and the others finished their entrance examination and three of them with a distinction. These Reploids were Roll, Diamond Pen and Rose Vixen. Now that everything had settled down, the eight new Maverick-Hunters repaired the fortress underwater and reconstructed him. To make him fit for the task and to turn him into a real home and proper Maverick-Hunter-Base.

Now Axl had made it pretty clear, that Samara Squirrel wasn't his cup of tea and so she dealt with him in a way, that would cause her the least amount of emotional trouble. She deleted her deeper feelings for Axl.

Everything was fine and things went back to normal. The prank they played on them inspired the Reploids to participate in other old human rituals and public holidays too. On one of those days, Rose Vixen and Zero walked to the streets near the Niagara Falls. They had sat down, ordered food in a restaurant and now looked at the Falls while Zero went down to one of his legs and opened a little, newly made, hatch. „Are you alright, Zero?" „Yes, sweetheart!" She looked at him but Zero waved with his other hand towards the Fall. „Enjoy the view!" „Okay!" She did that. Maybe he had a surprise for her. Today was one of those holidays again. It was called Valentine's day. „Rose! We had a rough start but you said to me, back before the prank succeeded, that your feelings for me were true and...", she turned her head around and found him holding a little metal box in his hands. He opened the box and a gold saber grip laid in there. „Do you want to hunt with me, as my wife?" She was overwhelmed and had her constructed body the ability to cry, she would've done that now. She stood up, slammed the table against the glass barrier, ran towards him, he stood up to and both hugged. „Yes! Of course i want to be your wife!"

Today was a night like every other. All nine new Maverick-Hunters, including Zero, were inside the Fortress. X and Axl had left, to take a bit of free time. A time where they wanted to be left alone. At least for tonight. Titanium Doe and Roll had just finished decorating Roll's health station and talked about Rush's downgrade. „And you accept his discussion?" „Of course!" „Did you know, Roll, that we were just hundreds of feet away from the landing spot of the Apollo 11 Mission? Picture that!", Doe moved her hands together and moved them away from each other, „Our foot- or hoofprints, right next to those of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins!" Roll imagined that. What an emotional scene that would have made. „I mean! Their footprints, Roll, are still there! After all these years! Because there is no air or person on the moon's surface, who could have destroyed or blown them away!" „Wait! What did you just said?", asked Roll and pointed at Titanium Doe. „I mean! Their footprints, Roll, are still there! After all these years! Because..." Roll finished the sentence with a perplexed tone in her voice, while pointing at Titanium Doe. An enigma just solved itself inside her head and opened up the doors to so many other mysteries. „There is no air on the moon's surface!" Roll slammed her hands on Doe's cheeks. „Titanium Doe, you're a genius!" „I'm?" Roll smiled at her. „Yes, you are! I need to go! Now!" She ran out of her room and snapped after Rush. „Come on, old boy! Stay at my side!" He barked, lifted himself from the floor and ran side by side with her to on of the new exit doors of the fortress.

Roll finally found X and Axl in a techno bar for Reploids, after she had searched for him for an hour. „Brother! You need to come with me!" „Big Sis, Axl convinced me to have a bit of fun tonight!" „The fun is over!", she grabbed his arm and made him follow her, „We need to talk!" „Is it urgent? Can't it wait?" „No it can't!" Roll stopped, let him go and turned around to face him. „X! There is no air on the moon!" „Yes and water is wet!" „No, X! I want to think about that for more than a millisecond! Take the information in, like a human would take a deep breath of fresh air in his lungs!" She laid her finger on his chest plate and every time she said a word, she touched him. „There. Is. No. Air. On. The. Moon!" X just looked at her and than it made click. „I can see where you going with this but, i'm missing a little bit here!" „I'm giving you that bit! It's a question! How could he built that fortress, without leaving a single trace of the whole construction process behind him in the ground? While i stood on the ceiling of his fortress i could get a very good view of the area, that surrounded the fortress! X, the only traces i found, where the landing spots of the space shuttles that we all had used and our own footprints! There were no other footprints, traces of material that had laid in the ground, residues of the construction work or remaining landing spots of other shuttles! X! He never landed or could've constructed the fortress on the moon itself! So how on earth did he got himself and the fortress up to the moon? If not by traditional means? How, X? How?!" She pointed at the ceiling and waited for X to think further and further until it laid out in front of him like an open book. „I can't believe it! This whole time!" X looked at her in disbelief, turned is head around and yelled in Axl's direction. „Axl! We need to go!" Axl yelled back. „Seriously?" „Business time!" „Please, tell me you're joking, X!" „Move your lazy butt over her, Axl!", he turned around and laid his hands on his sisters shoulders, „Let's finish this once and for all, Big Sis!"


	16. Chapter 15

**15\. Chapter: Masterful diversions**

„I can't reach Zero, X!" Roll had tried to transmit a warning to him but couldn't get through. „Tell, me again, why we are traveling to the underwater fortress at max speed in a rented earth shuttle craft?", asked Axl. „There is no air on the moon, Axl!" „Yes, X, and... wait, you're not saying this because out of sheer trivia sharing, there is a meaning behind that phrase! Oh, by my maker! We really have to hurry! Now i see it! That's so sneaky of him!"

After they had reached the fortress they had to act quick but without giving away their true plan. They entered just like normal and walked as normal as they could. „I want to see how Zero and Rose are doing!", said Roll and went to Rose Vixen's room. „Yeah, i want to take a closer look at Samara's collection!", Axl pointed in her direction and walked towards her entrance door. X followed him and said goodbye to Axl. „Where are you going?" „To Virion! She is working on her own videogame!" „Ah! Have fun, X!" „You two too!"

Axl found Samara Squirrel in her room, washing a german tank from the second world war. „Hi, Axl!" „Hi, Samara!" He walked towards her as quickly as he could, without making it look to obvious, that he was in a hurry.

Roll opened the door of Vixen's room and found the two of them, taking care of her plants. „And i thought you two would kiss each other or something else, when i entered!" Zero and Rose Vixen smiled at each other. „What can we do for you Roll?" „I have something for you two! Want to see it?"

X found Virion Skunk in front of her big monitor. She was tipping like crazy. „Can i bother you?" „You aren't bothering me! I can take on multiple operations at once, like any other Reploid! Even if most of us act like they can't do that!" „It's funny how everything we do leaves something behind! Little traces! Witnesses of our action! I mean, just take Neil Armstrong's footprint for example! It's still up there! Because there's no air on the moon!" Virion stopped for a second but continued, as if nothing had interrupted her thoughts. In reality she opened the communication console and just transmitted two words to all her friends. Neil's footprints.

Rose Vixen went to a small terminal on her wall and activated the speakers. „Girls! Roll has a surprise for me and Zero! We will be out of the fortress for a while and sleep in my apartment in the city!" Roll, Rush, Zero and Rose Vixen left the fortress as excited and quickly as possible.

Samara had opened the hatch of the tank she was cleaning and went inside. Axl followed her and closet the hatch behind him. He than deactivated every kind of transmitter signal, Wifi, Bluetooth or internet access. Everything, that Sigma could theoretically hack or intercept to spy on them. „Do you still use Wifi?" „No!" Samara understood that secret hint in combination with Virion's message and she deactivated her security loopholes as well. „Do we have a plan?" She whispered, even if it was impossible for any microphone outside of the tank, to hear them. „Act totally normal! If he is watching us and find's out, that we know, that he is watching us or that we know, that he has recreated the Space-Sphere-Portal engine, to get his fortress and a copy of himself onto the moon's surface! Than we are toast! Remember what he did to us on April Fool's Day? How could he had placed the mines inside those walls? No one of us had really the time to think about it, because the whole situation afterwards was so dire or in my case, we were simply deactivated and reprogrammed!" „Samara! Were there any odd things happening, while you eight had built the fortress?" The thought about it but couldn't find anything and shook her head. „No! Every piece of the fortress is, where it should be!"

Virion Skunk was writing an actual computer virus inside of the code of her videogame, while she talked with X about the aforementioned videogame. „And when you are Level 16, you can actually walk right into the enemy castle and try to kill the evil king!" „Is the king in a generic throne room?" The conversation was actually about their current situation and they just used words from her videogame, to cover up, what they really talked about. „I haven't decided, where i want to put the king in! Maybe i'll even put him into another area! I don't know yet!" „Is the evil king a single child or does he have a sibling, Virion?" „I haven't thought that through but its one of many possibilities!"

Diamond Pen had ended her chat session with her fans and walked into Space Raven's room, who played on her piano. Diamond Pen took another seat and sat right next to her. Without talking to each other. Diamond Pen liked music too, could play a few instruments as well and so joined Space Raven in her play. Since a piano had 52 white and 36 black keys, the could easily communicate with each other, by deciding a starting point, in their secret language. „I really like that sound! Why don't we work our way up from here?", said Diamond Pen and placed her finger on the f-note of the white keys. „I totally agree!" For audiences it sounded like a strange piece of music, when they held a secret conversation in reality .

Titanium Doe went to Lightning Otter's room for a check-up. „Can you please take a look at my circuits and fuses?" „Sure thing, honey!" Lightning Otter went out of the water and walked with her to an isolated place in her room. She dried herself before she started her delicate work. Lightning Otter removed every armor piece from her body and picked one of her tweezers up. „And i have several LEDs in my body, which are also blinking like crazy!" „That's totally normal! Wait I'll show you mine!" Lightning Rotter removed one of her arm chest pieces and held it against Titanium Doe's open arm. The blinking light was actually an indicator for the flow of electricity and could be manipulated to a certain degree. The two women used that, to silently communicate with each other, by applying morse code onto the sequence of the blinking LEDs.

Only Moon Mare continued with her workout session and decided that it was the perfect cover-up, if she just did what she always had done. Workouts, chess and relaxing by listening to meditation practices.

After a while, the hatch opened and Samara Squirrel came out of the tank. She yelled back into the vehicle. „Shut up! Then go and sleep all day inside of that tank, if you insist!" She slammed the hatch. Closed the exit from outside and continued to clean the tank.

If Sigma was watching them right now. He couldn't now, that the one cleaning the tank, was in fact Axl. He had used his copy ability on Samara Squirrel and pretended to fight with each other, to hide the real Samara from the security cameras, which everyone assumed, Sigma had full access to. Samara used the hatch on the down side of the tank to exit him. She closed the hatch as silently as possible. As luck would have it, there was a maintenance shaft right under the tanks display socket. Moon Mare had ordered her a few weeks ago, to remove a piece of the display socket, so that one could gain access to the maintenance shaft, without moving the whole tank and the socket away from its position. Samara opened the hatch in the floor and closed it behind her. She activated the night vision of her eyes and went down the ladder, into a dark passageway under the main area of their fortress. They had built the underground passageways for maintenance and easier access to the interior of the big fortress walls, without tearing them down. „Where are you hiding, Sigma?" This area hat neither cameras with microphones nor other kinds of surveillance.

Zero, Rose Vixen and Roll where back in town and talked in a restaurant about their next steps. „So, you came to the conclusion, that Sigma's real hideout is in our fortress? And that he's watching us the whole time?", asked Rose Vixen. „That was the reason, he could surprise attack us in the first place! Of course!", said Zero and slammed his fist in his other hand. „But how? The whole fortress was only built by us and we never noticed anything strange in the whole construction process!" Roll went even further with the explanation. „And he has reconstructed the whole engine for himself! Twice! Once for his body and once in its original size and none of you took ever notice of that! That's how he could get up his fortress on the moon in the first place! And he had a perfect copy of himself on the moon! So he had access to the copy ability you copied from Axl and to know that you had that ability obtained from him, he just had to monitor you all the time! It's simple deduction!"

After they got their meals, the door opened. Axl, Space Raven, as well as Moon Mare and Diamond Pen came in and sat themselves a few tables away from Roll, Zero and Rose Vixen. The three finished first and waited for the other four outside of the restaurant. When they finally had eaten as well, they all walked to the streets.

„How did you even find us?" Roll wanted to know that. „Easy! It's the only restaurant with a human chef, that can make Zero's favorite meal as perfect as a human can!", explained Axl. „I think we should go to a place that not related to anyone of us at all!", suggested Moon Mare. „But what about Samara Squirrel, Lightning Otter, Titanium Doe, Virion Skunk and X?", asked Diamond Pen and Moon Mare answered. „I was in Lightning Otter's room while she did morse with Titanium Doe. They used some inner LEDs to do it, while pretending to check up on each others interior. As far as i could read the morse of Otter and Doe, they wanted to stay and look at possible blind spots in the building, where Sigma could hide! It's not 100 % set in stone that he is inside of the fortress but it would make sense!" „Why?", asked Zero and this time Diamond Pen answered. „The fortress is a closed system, when it comes to online functionality and signal transmitters! If he wants to monitor us, at least to my knowledge, he can only do that from inside the fortress!" Moon Mare continued with her explanation about the missing members. „Virion Skunk is writing a virus to use against Sigma! And she is doing it in the already existing code of her videogame to hide it! Because we can't be sure, if he has access to our computer systems!" Rose Vixen had an idea and spoke it out loud. „Wait! Doesn't she has hundreds of old computers from the pre-Reploid era? These are all offline and so old! Sigma wouldn't even bother looking at them or think that they could be a threat to him!" Moon Mare placed her hand on Rose Vixen's shoulder. „Sweetheart, i already wrote your idea in Virion Skunk's code and deleted it after she and X had read it! She is probably already working on it!" Axl ended the explanation because he was the only one that knew, what Samara was up to. „And for Samara, she is down in the maintenance passageways to find a potential hideout in the underground or an entrance to a hideout, that's located on the first floor!" „And what are we gonna do?", asked Zero. „Oh, we, Zero! We will investigate a few possible crime scenes!", said Moon Mare and smirked.

After Titanium Doe and Lightning Otter had finished their faked inspections, their went to Titanium Does room and opened the safe, in which the original, printed out blue prints laid. „The whole fortress was built with these plans, Li!" „I know, Tita, i made the entire cabling! But my memory is a bit off and i don't know if made a few mistakes here and there!" „So we have to check every wall in the fortress?" „Not all of them! I thing i know a few places, where i could've made a few minor mistakes!" „So we practically check every freaking damn wall?" „No, we will not do that! Just a few places here and there! Come on! We have some work to do!"

Virion Skunk had converted her videogame code, which inherited the not yet finished virus, into a readable format for an old computer with a Pentium III processor. It didn't even had a W-Lan adapter or W-Lan network card. It was impossible for Sigma to spy on that thing. And not a single camera in her room, had that old tube monitor in it's possible field of view. X had left her room and walked a bit around. He pretended to search for the others but in reality, Moon Mare had told him on Virion Skunk's big screen, where they went to. When X found Titanium Doe and Lightning Otter, they had started checking out the walls by knocking against the walls and scanning for tiny grooves in the metal surfaces of them. „Hi, X! Wanna help us?" „How boring! I think i'll just go into my big sisters room and wait for her to come back!" „Do that if you want!" „Yeah! See ya!" He raised his hand in the air and waved, as he walked away.

Moon Mare and the others went to the military base, in which the space shuttle had been brought, when they landed back on earth months ago. A human employee from the security department had night shift. He gave Moon Mare, Space Raven and Diamond Doe the footage's of the hangar area from the day since they arrived back on earth up until yesterday. This was the first pack of footage's. Afterwards they traveled to the space port, who had built in the engine in the space shuttle, that they used on their first mission for ROSA. They got the footage from the time they brought the engine there, up until the day on which they had liftoff. They stayed a bit and while Space Raven showed them around, Moon Mare had uploaded the video files in her data bank and checked them one by one.

X found his sisters room pretty interesting. She was allowed to get some of her private stuff from the lab museum, that was her home many years ago. A photo of her, Mega Man, Rush an Dr. Light stood on her desk. X picked it up and looked at it for a moment. A started to feel nostalgic an emotional while he looked at it. After a few seconds he placed it back. On the wall, where her bed was placed against, hung a printed copy of her X-Hunter certificate. He also found some old junk from the lab. It was packed in a cardboard box and stood against the bottom end of her bed. He sat down on the edge of it and after a few seconds he laid down on the bed and thought about a save way to destroy Sigma once and for all.

Moon Mare had found a few suspicious Reploids on the footage's and finally found one, that had Sigma's body type. That was all the information she needed, to determine the time period in which Sigma could have recreated the engine. Roll had left the group earlier, with Rush at her side, to go back to her old lab, while the others went back to the fortress.

Virion Skunk had finished the virus. Titanium Doe and Lightning Otter had checked every blind spot in the fortress but couldn't find a secret room in there, without tearing every single wall apart. Samara Squirrel couldn't find a secret hideout in the underground passageway as well. „Well, it was a possibility!", said Samara Squirrel and went back into the tank, to wait for Axl in her copied body to free her. Since he had left the tank as Samara Squirrel, she couldn't exit it, without revealing the deception.


	17. Chapter 16

**16\. Chapter: Roll, the cleaning nurse**

Roll stood in her old room and found a few old household tools, she hadn't taken with her to the fortress. Like a broom and a vacuum cleaner. She remembered how good she was at cleaning and other household chores. Such as washing clothes, cleaning up rooms, bathroom cleaning and so on. Now she really wanted to know, what kind of new technologies and inventions were made in the household category.

Roll went to one of the bigger malls with shops for everything a human or Reploid could need. She found a store that specialized in household tools and machines and entered it. A Reploid employee greeted her. „Good day, Miss! Can i help you?" „Hello! I'm Roll and before is was a Reploid i was a household robot and i really want to get back on track on my old tasks and make it into some hobby! I was deactivated for a few centuries so i need to catch up on the new technologies and stuff!" „No! Problem! Do you want to start with vacuum cleaners?" „I had one build into me when i was a Robot Master! Yes, please!" „Good, follow me, please!"

„Okay! We looked everywhere! Can we all just agree that he is not here?", asked Lightning Otter with the others around her. Everyone except Roll was with her in Moon Mare's room. „So, what are we gonna do, now?", asked Axl, „Searching for him all over the earth and moon?" „He has to be somewhere within reach! Back then he replied almost instantly to Space Raven's words!", said Virion Skunk. „Should we wait for his next move? I don't know, men... women! Sorry!", said Zero. „I think it's the only way to find him! We can't find him, if he stays that quiet!", said Moon Mare. „I think i'll go and see what my sister is up to! See ya!" X moved trough the corridors. Something felt of. He couldn't place his finger on it. It was a short bright flash of thunderbolts in front if his view and any surface he had in his field of view. But that only happened for half a millisecond. So he pushed that aside and went out of the fortress. X stepped out and right into red dust. „What the..." X wasn't underwater, like he should have been. He scanned the place and checked it up with his data from earth. Zero went outside as well. „X, Moon Mare wanted me to g... oh, my! She was right! Sigma teleported the whole fortress!" „So this was the flash of lightning boltsi saw a few seconds ago but where are we, Zero?" „This place doesn't match up with any known location on earth! I check the outer temp...erature... minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit?" They looked at each other. They knew where they were but couldn't believe it. „Did he just teleported that us on Mars?" Space Raven went to the exit door as well. „Oh, by my maker! Where on Mars! Hi, guys! You know what's even worse than that?", both turned around and faced her, „Lightning Otter found out that we can't even communicate with earth anymore! Sigma just teleported every piece of technology out of the fortress! Every electricity cable, computer, terminal, hell even the cardboard box from Roll with her old stuff!" Just the metal walls, floors, ceilings and frames of the fortress are left! Guys! We're in deep trouble right now and at his mercy! And the only one left back on earth are Roll and Rush!"

Roll was on a run. She had purchased so many new stuff and even went to a hospital supplier store to get medical equipment from there. She had a few things already built into her but found, that she could equip herself with even more medical tools. For advanced medical treatments of humans and Reploids alike.

She rented the lab museum for three days, to execute her plan. She also replaced her Busters with self-constructed new ones, that took her a few hours to plan and finish. But then she felt complete and ready.

Now the only thing left for Roll to do, was to get a nurse certificate, to use her abilities and tools for good. She never wanted to be a nurse just by her design. She wanted to be a real nurse. Since she was a Reploid the process for becoming a nurse was much quicker and easier. But it still took her two more days, to get her certificate. Plus, now her memory bank included information's on medical, anatomic, construction, reproduction knowledge of and software programming for humans, animals, Reploids and robots. Of course the last part only applied to Reploids and robots. But now she was also a B Rank nurse. She did a household training program on the same day, on which she got her nurse certificate and could go home with an A Rank household Reploid certificate.

Even after all that time had passed, X and the others still had no idea how to get back to heart or even contact someone there. Roll was so caught up in her private stuff, that she only visited the underground fortress again, after all was set in stone. So she and Rush dived into the sea, when the fortress was on Mars already. Roll dived deeper and deeper but the fortress was not there anymore. The sea floor still had the patterns of the foundation from the fortress but the whole thing was just gone. She and Rush emerged from underwater to the surface of the sea. „Seriously? Did Sigma teleported them away? Dammit! If i just would've..." She shook her head. „No! I'm still here! Maybe there on the moon or something and can't even go back! Maybe this is your advantage! Our only advantage! If Sigma thinks, that he got us all! That we should let him think that and work from the only place, that is not connected to the modern internet or has any surveillance, that he could hack! The whole lab is a museum and was never connected to the internet cables underground. And since it is a museum, it never got updated with latest technologies! The security system that watches it, can only be accessed by entering one of the old, extended and reconstructed wall closets! Which now contains the security room! It's a closed system!" She made a circle with both her hands and Rush agreed and barked. „Oh! We have to move out tomorrow! Hmm! But i think i know were we can go!"

After they got back to their lab, Roll cleaned everything up and left with Rush after she was finished. It was night and raining. Roll decided to spent this night in a hotel. She had access to Dr. Light's old bank account, so money wasn't a problem for her. An automated law and government-system had Dr. Light's final will on hold for decades and after she was reactivated, the system gave her, according to his last will, full access to his closed but not deleted bank account.

By now, Axl and Samara Squirrel had found the old Mars Rover Curiosity, which was sent to Mars on the 26th November 2011. That find was totally unintentional. They just wanted to scan the area around the fortress for a better map and 3D image. „Can i have it for my collection?", asked Samara Squirrel, while she inspected the machine. „Let's first see, if we can restart it and send a message back to earth!", said Axl and grabbed on of the sides of the Rover, „A little help would be nice!" „I'm on it!" Samara grabbed the Rover on the opposite site and they lifted it up. „Let's move that old lady back to the fortress!" „If it's still there!" „Hey, Samara, don't Speak of the devil or the devil shows up!" „He, it could happen!" „Samara!", yelled Axl. „Okay, okay! I shut my mouth! Alright!" „Thanks!"

After Roll had found a nice hotel and checked in, she laid on the bed and activated the TV with voice commands. Rush was in a special guest room for pets on the second floor. She would see him tomorrow at the latest. „TV activate! News channel, HARBC!" That stood for Human and Reploid Broadcasting Channel. The TV was placed on the wall opposite to the bed. Roll could lay her head in the pillow and just watch comfortable from there. It was exactly 10:00 pm and the news just started. With a female Reploid and a male human as newscasters. „Good evening, ladies and gentleman!", said the Reploid. They showed a picture from the old Mars Rover Curiosity. The human continued. „The old Mars Rover Curiosity was activated by a trapped team of Maverick Hunters! It is still uncertain how they got there! A NASA spokesman said, that their planing a rescue mission right now!" The picture changed to a map of Japan and showed a video clip shortly after. The Reploid spoke while the clip was shown. „In the early morning a female Maverick went berserk in the streets of Tokio! She killed three Reploids and over ten humans on her rampage, before she was teleported away! The..." Roll jumped up and couldn't believe it. The video quality was extremely good but still. The female reploid had a unique design. She had Magma Dragoon's head, Storm Eagle's wings, Magna Centipede's tail, Cyber Peacock's legs and feet, Slash Beast's arms and hands, Overdrive Ostrich's neck, Wheel Gator's shoulders and Flame Stag's torso. The colors she was painted in were velvet red and sunrise orange. That was her. That was Kat. But how did she survived? She destroyed herself on the Moon Fortress. „As long as there are backups of us Reploids, none of us is really gone forever! This really has to stop! It's ridiculous! Death only has a meaning for humans but we Reploids never die, as long as there are copies of us! This has to end!" Someone knocked at her door. But before she could even touch the floor with her feet, the door was blasted away. Roll rolled from her bed and over the edge of the opposite side of the bed. „I found you! It wasn't that hard!" Roll rose her head over the edge of the bed and between all the dust and steam, there was a silhouette that came closer and became better visible step by step. It was really her. She crawled over the bed on all fours and grinned at Roll. „Hey! Thanks for believing in my!", she touched Roll's cheeks and smiled. „How?" „Backup! The machine makes emergency backups by default after the transformation process is over! I had enough time to get comfortable and used to this new form! And i love it now! I can't... no... i don't ever want go back being human!" „Being human is not bad or worse than being a Reploid! It's just different! But that doesn't mean a life as a human is less enjoyable or has less worth than our lives! Kat! Please! He is evil! Surrender! If you cooperate now, maybe you'll get a few years in prison but you have to stop! Or they'll deactivate you forever and destroy every backup copy of you! Please!" „I'll bring to my Master!" That was her chance. She didn't have to do a long and maybe impossible search for Sigma. She wanted to find and fight him anyway. So why not let the bad guys to the work for her. For now. „Well, take me to your Master! I' coming with you without resistance but...!", Roll pointed her warning index finger at Kat, „I'll not surrender!" „Good girl! Then, let's go!" Kat placed her hand on Roll's helmet and both got teleported away.

Roll was directly teleported to a big empty hall in another fortress. She could tell, that it was not the moon fortress. It looked totally different. Of course, that could mean nothing but she felt that it was another fortress. Kat ran over to Sigma and bowed before him. „Master! I brought her to you!" Sigma turned his head around. „Roll!", he pointed at his side, „Come here, girl!" Kat leaned against Sigma and caressed his chest armor. Roll walked slowly over to them and stood near them. „Take a look!" The three stood in front of a big window. From here, they could see planet earth. „We are in space!" „On my space station! Yes! And thanks to the engine and Moon Mare's logs, i found something pretty interesting on one of the planets! Follow me ,Roll! And you, Kat, go to your room and train a bit!" „As you wish, my Master!"

For now, Roll played along. She was the only one left on earth and stood alone against Simga and Kat. If she would rush blindly into a fight, she would be killed in no time. She had to be careful and wanted to collect as many data s possible about his real plan. They walked trough a long corridor and onto a viewing platform. „Look, Roll! Look at the end of all of humanity! I present to you, the HDP-T3-IR-Factory! Soon every single human will be one of us! There will be no warning, no claim, no explanation, no offering of a deal! I'll just do it and end the humans existence!" He clenched a fist. Roll stood there in awe and terror. He couldn't do this. This was insane. „You're crazy! I'll never allow this to happen!", she yelled at him. He just smiled and waved his hand from left to right. „100 conversion rooms! One whole conversion process takes approximately 15 minutes! I could transform 400 humans in an hour! But i'll build even more floors with much more conversion rooms! Until i can convert up to 2 million humans per hour into Reploids! No! Into loyal Mavericks! And then, after the last human is converted, i'll be the emperor of all Mavericks and Reploids!" His laughter filled her with horror. She just had to stop him. „But first, let me make sure that X and the others can never return!" He walked over to a terminal and entered a code. „I activated the engine from here! I already placed some new start and finish coordinates in the device and now! Your brothers life will end!" „..." „Yes!", he pointed at her and yelled in winners mood, „There is nothing you can do! They already got teleported onto a random planet in another galaxy, that i choose out of Space Raven's log files! I win! Finally! There is no one left to stop me! I also teleported your loyal dog into the sun! He gets destroyed as i speak! Now, Roll! Last standing child of Dr. Light! Witness the beginning of the total destruction! Of Humanity!" He raised both fists in the air and continued is diabolical laughter. „Supercomputer, Omicron! Start the conversion of the human race!" „Yes, Earth Emperor Sigma! The conversion of the human race begins now!" Roll was frozen in horror and disbelief. This wasn't happening. He couldn't do this. But he did. The first batch of humans was teleported into the conversion rooms right in front of them. Screams of terror and fear filled her with despair, grief and anger.


End file.
